Free Guide to Self-Publishing and Book Promotion

Inside Secrets from an Author Whose Self-Published Books Sold in Thousands

By Valerie Estelle Frankel

Copyright 2012 Valerie Estelle Frankel

Smashwords Edition

Other Books by Valerie Estelle Frankel

Teaching with Harry Potter: Essays on Classroom Wizardry from Elementary School to College

Harry Potter, Still Recruiting: An Inner Look at Harry Potter Fandom

Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey

From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey in Myth and Legend

Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in The Hunger Games

Henry Potty and the Pet Rock: The Special Edition

Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage

Henry Potty and the Pet Rock: The Unauthorized Harry Potter Parody

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

Contents

Introduction

Timeline

Finish and Edit Manuscript

Begin to Write the Front Matter and Back Matter

How to Get Published

How I Got Published

Lists of Publishers and Agents

Self Publishing: Choosing a Self Publisher

How to Create a Cover

Back Cover

On Taglines

Create an Ebook

Smashwords

Distribute your Ebook

Places to Distribute

What’s an Ebook Publisher?

Formatting your Printed Book

Make Preliminary Promotional Materials

Bookmarks

Business Cards

Bookplates

Sell Sheets

Media Kit

Website

Advertising your Website

Email Signature

Webrings

Blog

Get Reviews

Social Media Groups

Lists of Review Magazines

Book Review Blogs

Fellow Authors, Friends and Family

Getting Tags

Express Reviews

Other Interesting Review Options

Promoting your Book in Person

Parties

Recording the Experience

Conferences

Craft Fairs and Holiday Fairs

Bookstores

Libraries

Web Promotion (Costs Time)

Amazon

Amazon to do List

Amazon Author Central

Amazon Listmania, So You’d Like to…

Amazon Kindle Select Program

Goodreads

Giveaways

Shelfari and Library Thing

Forums and Chatrooms

Free Writer’s Sites

Book Trailer

Distributing the Book Trailer

My Twitter Experiment

Paperbackswap.com

Press Releases

Ebay

At the Post Office

Promotion Programs (Costs Money)

Awards

Trade Show Combined Book Exhibits

Writer’s Organizations

Book Expo America

Radio and TV Spots

Indie Bound Advance Access

Publishers Portal

Final Thoughts

Appendix

My Hunger Games Guide Cover

Full Cover with Spine for a 5.5 x 8.5 Book

Sell Sheet

Endorsements Page

Book Business Card

Bookmarks

Reading Flyer

Bios

Letter to Stores

Press Release Template

Review Request Letter

Successful Query Letters

Reading Group Guide

Bonus Essay: Creating Cover Art by Mary E. Lowd

Introduction

I had to learn all this the hard way.

I self-published my first book in 2006 and, unusually, sold several thousand copies over the first few years. But I did it by trying everything – expensive promotion programs, mailings that went nowhere, unnecessary distributers. I also tried some things that worked very well indeed. By my fourth self-published book, I had three traditionally published ones, and found myself formatting the paperback and ebook like a pro, releasing my guide to The Hunger Games just in time for the movie premier. My techniques work – and they will for you too.

I know this looks like an enormous amount to do, but simply plan out when you need a finished book with cover and interior printed and on sale. Work back from there. After the book, ebook, reviews, and author website are done, try doing just one thing a day – one guest post, a few emails to local libraries. Eventually, you’ll have amassed an entire network of promotion. Let’s get started.

Timeline

Finish and Edit Manuscript

It may seem obvious, but first you need a final draft of a finished book. If there are errors, they’ll just cost you extra time and money in the copyediting phase. So finish your book and make sure it’s really ready. Get friends, or better, strangers to read it. Some authors hire a copyeditor, others find a friend who’s a grammar expert. Many writers have critique groups; I recommend Critters, the free online critique group for scifi-fantasy (www.critters.org). When the book is truly finally ready, there are some decisions to make.

Begin to Write the Front Matter and Back Matter

Don’t forget the additional pages a book requires – when the book is actually scheduled for publication, you’ll find yourself needing these in a hurry (of course, not all of these will apply to your project). I’ve had some surprise scrambles before when self publishers and publishers requested some of these, especially the back cover content, and I realized I’d forgotten all about them. (For front and back matter, this is the correct order, according to the Chicago Manual of Style. The bolded words are linked to instructional guides or examples within this book.)

Front Matter

1) Half title page (just the title)

2) Series title, list of contributors, frontispiece or blank page

3) Title page

4) Copyright page

5) Dedication page or epigraph

6) Table of Contents

7) List of Illustrations

8) List of Tables

9) Foreword

10) Preface

11) Acknowledgements

12) Introduction

13) List of abbreviations or chronology.

Back Matter

1) Appendix

2) Notes

3) Glossary

4) Bibliography

5) List of Contributors

6) Index

7) Author biography and/or photo

Back Cover Sample back cover

1) Summary paragraph (first example second example)

2) Tagline(s)

3) Endorsements (See Get Reviews or my page of Sample Endorsements)

4) Author biography and/or photo

Helpful Links:

“The 3 STEPS to a Good Book Title that Sells” by Ezra Barany http://www.writersfunzone.com/blog/2012/01/18/3-elements-of-a-good-book-title-that-sells

“7 Ways to Brainstorm the Best Title for Your Book” by Ezra Barany

http://www.writersfunzone.com/blog/2012/02/29/7-ways-to-brainstorm-the-best-title-for-your-book

How to Get Published

People always ask me, how do you get published? There’s really only one way. Your concept has to excite a publisher more than the hundreds of others they get each week. Write an enticing query letter – a one page description of your project that includes a hook or tagline and bio, plus a bit about who will read it (there’s a sample in the appendix). Publishers of fiction expect your manuscript to be completed, while nonfiction publishers are willing to buy manuscripts based on a book proposal – a ten page summary of your book concept, audience, reasons you’re qualified to write it, marketing platform, and so forth. Prepare your query and also your fiction manuscript or nonfiction proposal. Just as there are many excellent guides to writing, there are excellent books on writing queries and proposals. Then you’re ready to start querying. There are a few ways to do this:

In person: Attend writing conferences in your field like the SCBWI conference for kids’ books, World Fantasy Convention for genre fiction, or Book Expo America for all types of books. Describe your project briefly to publishers and ask if they’re interested. A “pitch session” for which they’re specifically expecting pitches is better than harassing them when they’re in a hurry. (Writer’s Digest Magazine sponsors a few each year, or you can search for “Pitch Session” to find one in your area). For a pitch session, the agent sits there and listens to your three-minute pitch and/or asks some questions. He gives you a card, or doesn’t, and you move on to someone else.

Through an agent: The biggest publishers have closed their doors to author submissions (unless you meet them at a conference and they give permission). They expect you to find an agent who will sell them the book. How do you get an agent? The same way as you get a publisher: by querying them in person or by letter. Be sure to check which genres they represent and which books they’ve sold. Getting an agent is difficult but free: if they charge a reading fee, don’t take them on. I should add that many agents have written books on how to write successful book proposals and queries – read them carefully, especially when applying to an agent who’s written one.

Cold queries: Send your query letter to agents or editors who publish the sort of book you write. Most accept email. However, it can take months to get responses, and they’re most often “no.” This can be a drawn-out, depressing process, and a year later, you may find yourself exactly where you started. If you do this, I recommend having another book to work on in the meantime.

How I Got Published

First of all, I attended a Writer’s Digest agent pitch session where I gave the following pitch:

Hi, I’m writing a book about the heroine’s journey, rather than Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey. I detail all the stages using mythology from all over the world.

I might have given a longer speech for fiction, but I feel the above sentences got my concept across. I actually collected a giant pile of TWELVE cards from that session (Well, it’s an awesome concept, right?). I emailed those agents my book proposal, and one took me on. Unfortunately, he failed to sell the book.

Meanwhile, I was attending many conferences and at WorldCon, I stopped by a publisher booth. I’ve had my best luck speaking to publishers at their booths in a dealer’s room or writer’s fair – they’re manning the table all day and aren’t too busy to talk.

My usual script goes like this:

Hi, so what do you publish?
Oh, that’s interesting. Actually, I’ve lately been writing a book about the heroine’s journey, rather than Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey. I detail all the stages using mythology from all over the world. Is that something you might be interested in?

This publisher, McFarland and Co., was interested. I sent them my cover letter and book proposal, and after some time, it was accepted and published.

At a later conference, I stopped by McFarland’s booth to say hello and query them on another project. They weren’t interested in my book on goddesses, and explained that they’ve mostly been doing books about television. I piped up, “I can do a book on television,” while looking at an entire shelf of Buffy books they had lined up. I sent in a proposal, and that’s how I came to write Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey.

When I wrote a book of Harry Potter parodies, I sent a query to a Harry Potter nonfiction publisher I’d met at a Harry Potter conference. The project wasn’t quite right for the publisher, but he remembered me when I emailed him a Harry Potter nonfiction idea, the inside look at fandom Harry Potter, Still Recruiting. It was accepted, and thus I moved from academic publishing to small press.

Lists of Publishers and Agents

agentquery.com

firstwriter.com

publishingcentral.com

wrhammons.com/literary-agents-books.htm

bookmarket.com/101publishers

scbwi.org (requires paid membership)

Literary Marketplace (book available at most libraries)

literarymarketplace.com (requires paid subscription)

Writer’s Market (book available at most libraries)

writersmarket.com (requires paid subscription)

Self Publishing

Self Publishing is another choice. In this case, publication is guaranteed, in weeks rather than the best part of a year. For time-sensitive material, it’s wonderful. You’ll get to keep more royalties too. However, there is still a stigma on self-published books. It’s hard to get reviews and nearly impossible to get them stocked in stores. You need a platform – a fanbase and a reason people off the street will buy your book rather than a professionally published one by a more well-known author. My self-published books are Harry Potter parodies and a guide to The Hunger Games. All were released to coincide with their movies, and all have carefully selected keywords, so fans of the original works will find mine on Amazon, eBay, and so forth. (I also own HarryPotterParody.com). These had a platform built in – not mine, but the popular franchises that came with so much publicity and fan interest. I plugged the books on Hunger Games and Harry Potter fansites, attended conventions, gave talks on the original series. Did everything, in short, to attract my fanbase. That’s where my thousands of sales came from.

Most authors won’t write books this derivative. But who is your fanbase? Twelve-year-olds who like girl power fantasy? Immigrant mothers? This book will show how to find your fanbase and make sure they can find your book.

Choosing a Self Publisher

I chose my self publishers by deciding which options were important to me, and looking at what each company offered. Comparison charts like these are essential:

http://online-book-publishing-review.toptenreviews.com

http://www.bookpublisherscompared.com/publishers-analyzed

The “packages” vary widely in cost – from a couple hundred to a couple thousand. And now CreateSpace will do it for free. There are many factors to consider: Basically, what are you getting for the self-publisher’s set up charge? How much money will you earn per book? Some of their options are negligible – you can do them yourself with a little time, or hire someone to do them more cheaply (the cover would be the first thing on this list!). Other options depend on what you want the book to accomplish. Of course, companies frequently change their policies, so it’s best to get the information straight from the source – the publisher’s website. Let’s look at the available offerings and what they really mean.

Option: Interior Formatting (Difficult)

For my first three books, all Harry Potter parodies, I sent in a standard Microsoft Word Document and the self-publishers made it look like a book. I remember, on my first one, Wingspan drew me an artistic looking title and dug up Harry Potter fonts to use for my chapter titles and title page. They did page headers, page numbers, and so forth. They took my cover art and summary paragraph and made a book cover with the spine and so forth. And I had creative control on it all. It looked good.

I wanted Advance Review Copies to hand out for my second title. ARCs can be mailed to bookstores, sent out as review copies to magazines, or handed out for publicity at places like Book Expo America (as I did). Today, one can use an ebook as a substitute for some of this, when magazines will accept one. However, for Book Expo America, I wanted something to hand out. When I formatted them myself and printed them at 48hourbooks.com, I discovered it’s not actually hard to do. So when I went with CreateSpace on my 2012 Hunger Games book, I did all that myself. No I’m not an artist. But I studied lots of books to mimic how they should look, and my end result looked fine when I finally printed it. Most self-publishers do the formatting. But if you’re willing to do it yourself, you have even more options.

Option: Cover Design (Difficult)

Most self publishers do this. However, if you look at book covers, they’re not that complex. Picture cover on the front, with a big title and author name readable from ten feet away, in contrasting colors. On the back goes a summary of your book, an exciting tagline or hook, endorsements if you have any, your author bio if you don’t. (Self publishers want you to write the back cover material in any case.) The spine can be a little trickier, but many sites like selfpublishing.com or Createspace have a template with the correct thickness of spine when the author types in the number of pages. When I did this myself, I wrote out my back cover as a word document and saved it as a jpg

How to do it:

Use an online conversion program OR

Open the Word document and hit the alt and print screen keys on your keyboard (this prints only the active window, rather than the entire screen). Open Paint or another graphics program and hit ctrl-V to paste your picture.

Remember text needs to be very high quality – 2400 dpi. Making the text bold and trying different fonts can help. Colors should have lots of contrast.

I got a good graphics program and created a new picture big enough for the front cover, spine, and back cover as a single page, (with an extra .125 on all sides for bleed) to match the Createspace template I had downloaded. In my graphics program, I pasted in my front cover and back cover, and then typed in my title and author name, which I rotated to be vertical and moved onto where the spine should be. Full jacket – done. I then pasted the Createspace template over it to make sure it fit and adjusted as needed. For details on how to create your own cover using free software and clipart, check out author Mary E. Lowd’s bonus essay at the end of this book.

Templates:

http://www.selfpublishing.com/design/production-center/templates

http://www.selfpublishing.com/design/production-center/spine-width-calculator

https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/CoverPDF.jsp

Option: Royalties or Author Discounts

This is a tricky one for one major reason: a self publisher isn’t a traditional publisher; they’re more like a printer. This means you should really be getting 100% royalties, minus the cost to print and ship the book. However, many companies don’t see it that way. A few do: that’s why I used Wingspan Press and later Northbound Press: they offered me all the profits and only took the setup fee for themselves. If you think you’ll sell an enormous number of books, getting 20% versus 70% of the book price makes a difference. If you’re not selling many, it’s less important. (Likewise, for the book with a cover price of $6.95, the numbers came out about the same). But take a moment to do a little math and see what buying a hundred of your own books will cost (publishers offer different discounts on these) or how much you’ll make when you factor in shipping. Some publishers have special deals on shipping, and 48hourbooks.com will throw in a free 25 copies when you buy 100. Make sure you price shop, because they’re all different.

Direct-sale royalties come when someone buys copies from your publisher’s site. But is that really likely? Most shoppers prefer Amazon or BarnesandNoble.com. And on your own website, you’ll probably sell signed copies from your garage, which you can pop into an envelope and mail, or sell at fairs and events. So do look at what you’ll make from retailers like Ingram and Amazon – that’s your most likely sales channel.

Option: Set your own Cover Price

This one was important to me, since, when I started, self published books were all going for $17 or more. And why, I thought, would people buy self-published books of questionable quality that were more expensive? Now, many publishers have charts or calculators that will show you how much profit you’ll make if the cover price is $9.99 or $12.95, or so forth. It’s not guaranteed that cheaper books will sell more copies, though it’s a reasonable strategy. Most self publishers will make suggestions on cover price, based on comparable titles and how much royalty you’ll be getting. Looking at similar books is always a good choice. And remember, you can always mark it down on your own website or at conferences (I traditionally sell my $12.95 paperbacks for ten if I’m selling at a craft fair or out of my car.)

Option: Free Author Copies and Review Copies (Easy)

Not much of a deal. If for $100 more, they’ll give you an additional five copies or even ten on a book that costs you $3 each…well, it’s not really a big consideration factor. Sending out review copies is a similar issue – you can do it yourself for the cost of books and postage. As for the connections…my TRADITIONAL publisher sent out 40 review copies to well-established journals they know. I believe maybe one review and a mention or two resulted. To date, I’ve gotten far more reviews for the book than they have, all from people in the business I’ve met at conferences.

Option: Listing it in Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Buy.com, Alibris, etc. (Easy)

Of course this is important. But everyone includes this, and if they didn’t, it’s easy to do yourself. You can make your own Kindle and just email Amazon – they’re happy to list it. Online bookstores across the world will pick it up soon through the magic of the internet, so this one isn’t really worth comparing whether Buy.com vs. Alibris vs. BarnesandNoble will be asked to stock it. The truth is, they all will.

Option: Amazon Search Inside and Similar Programs (Easy)

Same answer really – it’s free for you to do and won’t take long. That’s why everyone throws it in. I also make sure it’s on Google Books.

Option: ISBN and Barcode

Every company should include this – it’s what the “publisher” does, whatever kind of publisher you’re using. Even CreateSpace throws it into their free package. One of the key issues I wanted for my self-publisher was deniability it was self-published. While Wingspan and Northbound both were self-publishers, they weren’t as famous as Author House or iUniverse. So that was a major reason I chose them. (By 2012, with my book on The Hunger Games I cared less about this and went with CreateSpace.) Some people dodge this issue by buying a block of ISBNs and naming their “own imprint” “LaughaMillion” or “Goddess Reader Press” or whatever (and many self-publishers will help with this). Are you going to write enough books to use ten ISBNs (or perhaps share them with a friend)? Is it worth paying the extra cash to look like you’re small press to ordinary shoppers? (Though many can still tell, and certainly those in the industry can.) http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/Pubresellers.asp has some assistance on this.

Option: LCCN (Easy)

Some want extra for registering the book with the Library of Congress. While doing so makes the book look more professional, I’ve seen no evidence that it will affect sales. Many publishers include this as an add-on, and you can get it on your own, so this shouldn’t be a major factor in choosing a company.

Option: Copyright Registration (Easy)

The book is copyrighted by you automatically the moment you write it. That’s the law. You the author hold the copyright no matter what kind of publisher you use. So I probably wouldn’t pay too much extra just so the copyright office has some paperwork. If you want to do it yourself, that’s an option too. To register your book for copyright, simply fill out a form at www.copyright.gov and pay a $30 or so fee.

Option: Paperback/Hardback

Hardbacks are more expensive, and I find unknown authors do better selling paperbacks. Still, not all publishers have both options.

Option: Image Placement (Difficult)

If your book editors are formatting the interior with chapter titles, headers, and so on, they do have to line up the images and charts, which can be time-consuming. And color printing is expensive. If you’re formatting the interior yourself, however, black and white pictures shouldn’t cost anything extra. Whether you need them at all depends on the type of book you’re writing.

Option: Speed

Some companies want six weeks, some want one week. After I did my own formatting, CreateSpace was incredibly fast, having me wait for one final proof copy to ship and fixing everything else on their end in just a few days. Most of my books had some kind of time factor with upcoming conferences and book releases my books were supposed to accompany. Plus, of course, I was impatient.

Option: Pdf vs Paper Proof

Possibly you want to see the real book in your hands before you finalize and ask the publisher to print hundreds and list it for sale across the world. Good thought. But I’ve been unable to see final paper proofs on some of my books, and there really weren’t any surprises.

Option: Booksellers Return Program

This means the books are listed as “Returnable” in Ingram. This has nothing to do with customers returning books to a store, but it instead means the bookstore can destroy the books because they don’t want them and the publisher will eat the cost. If the books are self-published, this means you will eat the cost and be charged for books the bookstore bought and then couldn’t sell. Why on earth does this program exist? Well, it started around the Great Depression when times were tough and it might have made sense then. Now it’s a truly illogical policy. However, traditional bookstores won’t order your books off Ingram without this policy in place (Independent stores may accept a few copies on consignment or make other arrangements, however). For my parodies, I paid extra to make sure all my books were listed as returnable. I didn’t pay that much after the setup fee for one good reason: Bookstores still didn’t want my self-published books, even marked as returnable. Some stores did stock my books – I remember Barnes and Noble and Borders ordered them for a few conferences I attended – but I don’t know that it made a big difference.

Option: Ebook Conversion (Difficult)

Absolutely, you should sell the book in ebook as well as paper. Kindle and other readers are becoming popular, and it’s good to offer readers the option to buy it in any format they’d like. Making ebooks can be time-consuming, so it might be nice to have the publisher do it. However, if you do it yourself, you can control the quality and make sure it looks exactly the way you want.

Option: Indexing (Easy)

Indexing used to be arduous and terribly expensive. Now thank goodness, there’s Microsoft Word.

How to do it:

Go through your document and find important words. Highlight them one at a time and choose References: Mark Entry from the menu or hit Alt-Shift-X. This marks a word for the index, and if you click mark all, every occurrence will be marked. I also like to make a list of important words in my document, go through, hit each one with “Mark All” indexing and then delete my list. Then under References, click “Insert Index.” On older Word, these menu items are a little harder to find, but they’re there – the Help menu has details. You can just right-click the index and hit update if you change your page numbers, and the index will change to reflect your new version.

Option: Sell Sheet and Press Release (Easy)

These require little besides the information on your back cover. (Examples are in the appendix.) Even sending out a press release is free. Don’t spend extra for them, certainly.

Option: Your own Website (Easy)

Most self publishers will give you a seller’s page (like a book’s page on Amazon) on their site. However, most book buyers visit Amazon instead. Remember, that’s not really the same as a personal website, and there are plenty of free options like setting up a blog at Wordpress.

Option: Bookmarks, Postcards, Business Cards, and Posters Packages (Easy)

I just make them myself and send them to Printfirm, Vistaprint or another printing company that will produce high quality products. That seems more cost-effective, and I can choose exactly which products I want instead of going with a “package.” It’s far more cost effective to allow them a week or so to print instead of needing a rush job. Colorful business cards with my cover on one side and a tagline and a website on the back are good but my favorite are bookmarks – people like them more than postcards or business cards, and they’re cheaper than mugs, pens, buttons, and other giveaways. Regarding the latter, I always consider how cost effective it will be to give away $2 mugs to sell books that cost me $3.

How to Create a Cover

For all my books, I had cover art before I began…mostly because the self publishers charge too much and provide too little. Most will, for a hefty fee, have someone build you a clipart cover, like the cover of Twilight with the apple on the front. Surely you have an artistic friend who might do that for you? Or you could paste an apple photo on a black cover yourself. Study ten books similar to yours and see what their covers are like. What attracts you? Would you pick up this book? Does its cover fit the topic?

When self publishers say “custom cover,” they probably mean clipart cover. Look at some that their company has created and decide if that’s what you want. And whether you really need to pay extra for them to do it.

For my Hunger Games book, I made my own clipart cover (available in the Appendix). That was a wrench as there was so much beautiful fanart for The Hunger Games on DeviantArt and I wanted to email an artist or two to negotiate terms. However, I wanted a cover similar to the original book’s, so I used a bird’s silhouette that I adapted from an online wildlife quiz. Everyone told me the real Hunger Games font looked ugly on my cover (though it WAS authentic) so I mixed it with some other free fonts until I had a look I liked. I also showed mock up covers to my critique group to get their opinions before I went ahead with it.

For my Harry Potter parodies, I didn’t want a clipart cover but a cartoon cover drawn by an artist. These can get insanely expensive (unless you have a friend). I held an art contest for my first cover, but only got two entries. One was my young cousin, and the other, my friend majoring in design. (Nowadays with Facebook and so forth, this would likely be easier). I scanned my friend’s picture, edited it a little, added a big title, and was ready to go.

While I used the same friend for my sequel’s cover, for the third I went to DeviantArt.com, a website where independent artists post their portfolios and often advertise their rates for custom work. I found an artist whose sample work I liked and emailed him (and a few others) asking them all how much time and money they’d want to draw me a custom cover. My favorite of the bunch took the job for a surprisingly low fee, which I paid through Paypal, plus we worked together to create a cover I loved (he sent me preliminary sketches throughout the week, and in about five days I had a great cover). I asked him to spoof the Harry Potter Tenth anniversary cover any way he wished, but add a flying pig, and send me a high quality computer file I could use. This cover is available in the Appendix.

If I wanted another drawn or painted cover I’d definitely go back. (Remember to specify leaving room for the title, author name, and anything else, along with file format and dimensions.) For custom work, it’s best to be precise.

Back Cover

The Back Cover advertises your book, and my best advice is to look at dozens off your shelves and decide what you like. Basically, there should be a tagline or two, summary, and any endorsements you might have. An author bio and photo are likely less important than these and could go inside instead. Short blurbs are key – cut any unneeded words and write why people would want to buy the book. Include action verbs and the most exciting details. Include bullet points and (a few) different sizes and colors of text. People would rather see some space than a solid sea of words. Several of my own back covers are in the Appendix.

While you don’t literally need a back cover for an ebook, you will need this same information: Summary, tagline, and endorsements for the book’s sales page, along with your own website and the sell sheet. I find myself constantly copying and pasting my perfect paragraph everywhere from eBay to Facebook long before the book is printed.

On Taglines

A tagline is a catchy, memorable phrase like “Got Milk?” that makes readers interested. Some are one-line summaries of your book, some are provocative, dramatic statements or questions, some are just cute.

Tags for my parody series:

“For everyone who loved Harry Potter…and for everyone who didn’t.” (Now that’s a target audience I like.)

“For ages 2 to 222”

“Unapproved, unendorsed, unofficial, and unstoppable.”

These subtly contain important information – that Potter fans and non-Potter fans will appreciate this, that the parody is intended for all ages including children, and that the book is unendorsed by J.K. Rowling. Nonetheless, I printed this information in a silly, attractive way. All the taglines have gotten lots of actual laughter.

Some Amazing Fiction Taglines

“What happens when the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince of all time and he turns out to be a son of a b****?” The Princess Bride, William Goldman

“There's a darkness within me, something I can't always control. If you like a girl with a secret side, you're gonna love me...” The Girl in the Steel Corset, Kady Cross

“What happens when someone you love becomes a weapon to use against you…” The Girl in the Clockwork Collar, Kady Cross

Each of these on its own made up the book’s back cover. And they’re wonderfully dramatic, aren’t they?

Helpful Links:

“Writing a Good Tagline for Your Book With Q” by Talina Perkins http://www.bookinitreviews.com/2011/06/writing-good-tagline-for-your-book-with.html

“Top 100 American Movie Taglines” by Silver Planet Staff

http://www.silverplanet.com/entertainment/movies/top-100-american-movie-taglines/top-10-taglines/2129

“Query Letter: Taglines” by Heather Todd

http://professional-book-editors.com/wordpress/query-letter/query-letter-taglines

“Wag the Tagline: The Rhetoric of Brand Messaging” by Eric Swartz, TaglineGuru http://www.taglineguru.com/wag_the_tagline.html

Create an Ebook

Smashwords

Smashwords is a great no-cost ebook publisher and distributer. While they’ll publish all styles of ebooks, creating one good enough to pass their Style Guide makes a book that’s far more pleasant and readable. Plus, if you pass, you can get in the Smashwords Premium Catalog, and get distributed to major ebook retailers such as Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel and others.

The good thing about Smashwords is that it will make it into all the formats you need: ePub, Kindle, Sony, Mobipocket, PDF? No problem – they all happen with one Word document and one click. They’ll get you some sales, and they’ll also distribute to ebook stores without your having to set it up. They’ll even assign you an ISBN, and all of this is free. They’ll also take short stories and essays, letting you build up quite a library. The catch is making the Word document look good enough that the resulting files are good too.

To get started, go to smashwords.com and register.

Links:

Advice http://www.smashwords.com/about/how_to_publish_on_smashwords

Free style guide http://www.smashwords.com/b/52.

Upload finished manuscript https://www.smashwords.com/upload.

People who will format it for pay list@smashwords.com

Guidelines for Premium Catalog distribution http://www.smashwords.com/distribution.

If you do it yourself, there are a few big things to remember:

1. Make a copy: Rather obvious, but you don’t want to convert your only copy into a strange format.

2. Enter Key: Don’t hit it a bunch of times in your document for making new pages, or dramatic pauses. On those little e-readers a lot of blank space just looks awful. And Smashwords won’t tolerate more than four enters in a row.

3. Paragraph Separation: Either indent with a tab OR skip lines but NOT BOTH (a tab is traditional for most books. I make my tab half sized, which looks more natural.

How to do it:

Under “View” check the box marked “Ruler.” When you have a ruler marking the top of your document, highlight all your text and move the top little tab on the ruler so that it’s at .25 not .5.

4. Fancy Fonts: These are hard to get right in so many different kinds of ebooks. Plus, many people have black and white readers. Make a book that looks good either way. Keep the font size under 16pt (besides, many readers are small) and use a single style through your book. All caps is very annoying in books – don’t use it. Using “Normal” style is best with “Heading 1” (and possibly “Heading 2” for your chapter titles.)

5. Table of Contents: Page numbers are pointless in an ebook so don’t include them. A linked Table of Contents is priceless, however, as readers can simply click on a chapter header to jump there.

How to do it:

Ordinarily in Word, one can make one automatically. Just highlight your chapter titles and change the style of each to Heading 1 or Heading 2. Then click References: Table of Contents and insert one. To update it, just right click and select Update. This is great for a paper book.

However, to have it work in Smashwords there are better options. One can start each chapter with the word “Chapter,” and Smashwords will automatically detect these and build a Table of Contents.

Or an author can make a Table of Contents with the Insert: Bookmark feature, and the Insert: Hyperlink feature. Go to your chapter, click on the title (Chapter 1: Into the Gloom, let’s say), and hit Ctrl-G or Insert: Bookmark. When a menu pops up, type in a good label for this spot like ch1. Then do all the other chapters. To create your Table of Contents, type your first chapter title, highlight it, and hit Ctrl-K or Insert: Hyperlink. On the far left of the open menu, click “Place in this Document,” and select your bookmark, ch1. Now, when you click your chapter title in the Table of Contents, it’ll take you right to your bookmark.

6. Copyright Page: Smashwords would like your title page/copyright page (you could combine these) to contain, at a minimum:

Title

Published by NAME at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 NAME

7. Tables and columns: They don’t work with the Smahwords system. You should convert them to either text or a picture, which are supported. Automatic footnotes are likewise a problem. I used MLA format, which doesn’t have footnotes, for my citations.

8. Page breaks: These will work with some ebooks formats like pdfs, but not others. If you need a break, make it a new chapter. Insert a section break (Page Layout: Breaks: Next page). For my dictionary-style Hunger Games Guide, I finally had to make each entry a new mini “chapter.”

9. Front matter: Go light on blurbs, dedications, acknowledgements, and so forth. Do you really need it all? Remember, the reader is wading through all that to reach your text, and he can’t exactly flip several pages at once. Consider eliminating most of this from this edition or even putting some, like the acknowledgements, in the back. Use one title page not two. In fact, one title page, one short copyright, and your Table of Contents will fill it up nicely.

10. Cover: A good looking cover image is required. Book covers cannot contain nudity, a price, or a web address. They must include the title and author, which must match the title and author you input.

11. Pictures: Pictures are supported, but they often move around oddly or change size. You’ll likely have to do a few drafts before they start showing up where you want them. Move them around, resize them, and make sure they’re high quality images.

How to do it:

Use Word’s Insert: Picture: From File option, not copy-paste. Likewise, pictures shouldn’t be floating or positioned absolutely. Instead, right mouse click on image, click Format Picture: Advanced: In Line with Text, then use Word’s center button or left-justify to place it where you want.

If you’re using Microsoft Word 2003 or later, you can compress pictures so the document takes up less memory. Just right mouse click on any image in the document, select format picture, and then under the picture tab in the lower left hand corner you’ll see a link for “compress.” Otherwise, you can use a photo editor to reduce the quality.

You can also use a photo editing tool such as Photoshop, or a free utility such as Paint.net at http://www.getpaint.net or Picasa by Google at http://picasa.google.com. Please note: It doesn’t impact the file size to simply click the corner of an image and drag it inward.

When you’re done, publish the ebook at https://www.smashwords.com/upload. Then DOWNLOAD IT AND LOOK AT IT. If there are problems, fix them and resubmit.

Once it’s done, post an announcement on Facebook. Offer promotions. Smashwords will let you post a link to the print version and a book trailer. You can add a description and tags. Save copies of the ebook in every format on your computer – if someone asks for an epub or mobi file, you can just attach it to an email and send.

Distribute your Ebook

Some people post the entire ebook free all over the web to boost sales. I prefer posting it anywhere that will offer it for sale and send me my share of the profits (50-50 seems standard). Ebooks usually sell cheaply, since it’s really just a file. Once you’ve done the Smashwords process, or just used an online converter to make (at minimum), the ePub, Kindle/mobi, and PDF versions, it’s time to distribute it. Send the ebook to any interested reviewers. List it in ebook stores.

Places to Distribute

Amazon Kindle

Google Books

Barnes and Noble Nook

Goodreads (from the author dashboard)

What’s an Ebook Publisher?

Just as a traditional publisher formats and distributes paper books, an ebook publisher like Smashwords will do the same. If you have full distribution rights (expected with self-publishing, trickier for traditional publishing), you can offer the book to all the ebook publishers who want it. Scificafe even did a new cover and a press release for mine!

Formatting your Printed Book

A book doesn’t look like a Word document inside—it has different fonts and layout on a page.

Many self publishing companies will format it for you, so do ask before you do all this work. Also, the ebook and cover are a higher priority, as the former can be used to get advance reviews and the latter can be used for advertising. (Besides, your ebook needs the cover as well). Once you have these other steps in place, you’re ready to edit your paper book itself.

The easiest way to set this up is to download the template of how the book should be formatted and copy-paste in your text. Here are the free templates:

https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/InteriorPDF.jsp

http://www.lulu.com/gb/publish/books

A more difficult way to do this is to save a copy of your document and implement all the formatting in the template, step by step. Regardless, here are some steps that need to be done, changed, designed, or double-checked before the book is printed. Save a different copy of the manuscript before beginning to change your document.

1. Paper size

Go to Page Layout: Page Setup: Paper. Make your pages the size your book will be. You will likely need to select a “custom size.” And be sure to click the pull down menu at the bottom to “apply to all sections.”

2. Set margins

Select all (Ctrl-A) and go to Page Layout: Margins and select Mirrored for a wider inner margin like a book. Createspace recommends at least .25 on the outside and between .375 and 1 inch on the inside, increasing the margin for a book with lots of pages. Wider margins will of course make your book have more pages if desired.

3. Add front matter and back matter

For the half title page, title page, copyright page, and so forth, looking at sample books off your shelf is essential. Decide which styles and looks you like best and see how they look on your actual paper size. What front and back matter should be included? Remember a Table of Contents can be generated automatically. Put the About the Author page in back, with a couple blank pages and perhaps an acknowledgement page.

4. Choose a font and font size for the text

Book Antigua, Garamond, Georgia, or Bookman size 11 are common for printed books – twelve looks a bit large. Times New Roman appears rather like a high school essay to many eyes, while the Courier fonts, designed to mimic typewriter spacing, are not appropriate. If wider letters are desired (to increase page count), try Century Schoolbook. Above all, your lettering should be clear and easy to read.

5. Justify the text.

While you can “Align Left” (Ctrl-L), Justifying your entire text (Ctrl-J) looks the most natural. Chapter headers and titles are Centered (Ctrl-E), of course.

6. Choose paragraph indent size

Highlight all of your text except the front matter (or if necessary, do this chapter by chapter). Click View-Ruler if there’s no ruler at the top of your screen. When there is one, move the small markers on it so that your paragraphs indent at .25 inches, not .5.

7. Chapter beginnings

The important bit here is to be consistent: Every chapter header should be the same style (and it’s easier to click Style: Heading 1 or Heading 2 than change the font and size each time). That’s easier for making a Table of Contents automatically as well. To make a Style with your preferred font and size, highlight your formatted title and select Home: Change Styles: Style Set: Save as Quick Style Set. Chapter headers should be large and centered, possibly interesting and artistic. Some authors use numbers, some names, some both.

Remember to start each chapter on an odd page – hit Ctrl-enter to form a new page, or two where you need them. If your book has sections or parts, they too should begin on odd pages. A page that says nothing but Part II: The Plan in a large font is fine.

8. Add headers, page numbers, and section breaks

Go to Page Setup: Layout. Check the box for Different Odd and Even Pages. Then click Insert: Header. For an easy header, put your title (generally in all caps) on even pages and your name on the odd ones. For a more complicated one, put the chapter title for each chapter.

How to do it:

Basically, whenever you want the header or footer to say something different than on the previous page, you can click Page Layout: Breaks: Section Break: Next Page. Then click Insert: Header: Edit Header to make your changes. To put in a different header UNCHECK the box marked “Link to Previous” on the Header and Footer Tools Menu. In the same menu, you can adjust the header’s closeness to the top of the page.

Don’t forget page numbers! Insert: Page Number is the easy way to go. Position it in the center, on the bottom and decide if the font looks good.

Blank pages, front matter, and your About the Author page in back have no header, footer, or page number. Make them all new sections (see above) if necessary.

9. Position pictures, if pictures are included.

Make sure to use high-quality images, more than 300 dpi, or you’ll likely be disappointed with the quality. Space them throughout the text rather than in giant clusters. Printed books will most likely be in black and white, so click on each picture to open the Picture Tools menu, and click Recolor: Grayscale to see how it will really look.

10. Final Check

When you’re done formatting, make sure all the chapter beginnings are still on odd pages. Glance over the entire book for inconsistencies in font or style, strange page breaks and line breaks, and incorrect headers and footers. Then update your Index (if applicable) and update your Table of Contents last. Make sure they’re correct.

Viewing the book as two pages (View: Two pages) is recommended to see it as a reader would. However, the odd numbered pages, which are always on the RIGHT side of a book will display on the LEFT on your screen. To get rid of this issue, I added a blank page at the beginning, and remembered to erase it when I was done. If the book is formatted properly, you can order a proof copy and then start selling. But there’s plenty to do while you’re waiting…

Make Preliminary Promotional Materials

Bookmarks

I’m known at parties for the shiny cardboard bookmarks I hand out. Some people like postcards, which they can mail of course, but I think people enjoy getting and collecting bookmarks. And I can squeeze much more onto them than onto a business card. I like a two-sided full color bookmark. There’s a sample in back.

How to do it:

To make my bookmarks, I search the web for decent printers who’ll do bookmarks and do some price checks. I generally go with printfirm, printplace, or vistaprint, but there are plenty to choose from. When there’s a lot of text, I use Word to make it (the first step is to work on a custom page that’s the size of the bookmark plus .125 bleed on all sides – the printer’s site likely has a template, or you can go to page setup in Word and tell it how big to make your page and your margins). If there are lots of pictures, I use a graphics program. Of course, Word will work with backgrounds, colors, and anything else. I then use file converters or printscreen to make both bookmark halves jpgs, pdfs, or whatever the printer would like.

Bookmarks go in the books people buy. They can also be handed out in person or left in a pile on a freebee table. All around, I find they’re my best publicity option. There are samples in the Appendix, and I would recommend putting roughly the same information on a postcard. For both, a tagline, picture, short summary, and book details (Title, author, ISBN, website, publication date) are key.

How to do it: File Conversion

The catch with uploading videos, making bookmarks, and so on, is that everyone wants a different kind of file. To convert, say, a video to a flash video, do a quick web search for exactly what you want: “Convert wmv to flash video.” Many are free. Using online converters will skip plugging up your computer with tons of unneeded software. If you have a choice, always set for maximum quality. If the quality of your final product is too low, find another program and try again.

How to do it: Printscreen

Open the Word document or other file (movies played in your computer’s DVD player work too) and hit the alt and print screen keys on your keyboard to print only the active window, rather than the entire screen. Open Paint or another graphics program and hit ctrl-V to paste your picture.

Business Cards

I often get business cards too, while I’m at it. These are incredibly cheap from printfirm, printplace, or vistaprint, or from office companies like Office Max. It’s an unspoken rule at conferences that you always have cards with some way to reach you such as email and/or cellphone. They should look nice and professional. If they’re your cards from work or otherwise don’t have your book, blog, or other information reminding people who exactly you are, I recommend scribbling a note on the card like “looking for guest bloggers” before you hand it over. I’ve also made business cards for my book, with a cover image on one side and text on the other, which fit nicely in a pocket or wallet.

Bookplates

A bookplate is a sort of “This book belongs to” sticker some people put in their books. They’re especially useful for authors, as authors can sign the sticker and pop it in an envelope and mail it for a “signed book” with cheap postage. When people at conferences say they already have my book but forgot to sign it or don’t want to pack any more books (or when I meet someone amazing but left their book at home) I pull out a bookplate to sign instead, and point out that people can order the book online when they get home. Custom bookplates are probably not the best use of time and money – I don’t need bookplates all that often. But generic ones are cheap, and a few fit nicely in a folder or bag. www.bookplateink.com has a large stock.

Sell Sheets

I keep a few sell sheets in my car to hand to bookstore owners and libraries, or tuck inside review copies. They contain all the relevant facts: Title, author, publisher, page count, genre, ISBN, distribution and contact info. I also add the cover art, back cover summary, tag line, and author bio, on a single sheet. I find myself referring to the file constantly, as so many online book databases want all this data, and it’s easy to copy-paste it in. See the Appendix for my sell sheet.

Media Kit

This is an enormous pile of reviews and other details about the book that you can hand to magazine writers, interviewers, event contacts, and other industry professionals. Some people print all the documents in their media kit, tuck them in a nice folder (perhaps one of those with a slot for a business card), and hand them out at conferences. I’ve made a few of these with the following items:

Left pocket of folder:

List of Publications or Curriculum Vitae

Contact Information

Bio

Sell Sheet

Press Release

Right pocket of folder:

Interviews, Reviews, Endorsements, Awards, and Articles about the book

However, I prefer to hand out a one page sell sheet with a link to my media kit on my website. Basically, if I’m speaking, all this will make it easy for someone to introduce me or write about me – I’ve done all the research and organized it. On one page, titled Media Kit, I link to the following:

My Online Media Kit: A List of Links

High Resolution Book Image
High Resolution Author Photo
Author Bio
Endorsements
Sell Sheet
Reviews

Awards
Press Release

News Articles
Interview
FAQ
Synopsis
Sample Chapters
Table of Contents
Flyer

Contact Information

Upcoming Appearances and Calendar

Website

Of course you as an author need a website. Some people share the website with their work site or make it a blog. Some add a shopping cart. Traditional for authors is your name.com – jkrowling.com or rickriorden.com. Since I share another author’s name and my current author name is awfully long, I went with vefrankel.com.

The top page should be attractive and easy to navigate – a big, obvious button to a sitemap is good. Keywords are also important – I write a paragraph at the bottom of my top page that describes the site with lots of valuable keywords:

Official Website of author Valerie Estelle Frankel: Original children’s novels, short stories, book recommendations, reviews, fairy tale resources, fantasy & writing links and so much more. Explore the heroines' journey and heroes' journey in her new book From Girl to Goddess. Free Harry Potter Parody in ebook and paperback. Journey to the magical world of Calithwain, with amazingly detailed interactive maps for all ages. Recommended reading lists of easy classics, reading help, writing tips, and everything else you can imagine.

I also choose my site’s title and description with care.

At minimum, every writer should have a page on each book containing a hook, synopsis, cover art, links to purchase, and links to reviews, articles, and interviews. You also need an About the Author page with a contact form or email link.

Other logical things to put on your site:

- Media Kit

- Links to your Facebook or other social media page

- Guestbook

- Blog or link to Blog

- Articles on related subjects to attract visitors

- Bibliography of all you’ve published, with buying links.

- FAQ

- Recommended reading list of books in your subject area

- Bibliography of books you used

- List of upcoming conferences or author appearances

- Photos, videos, or audio of you at events

- Reading guide and discussion questions

- Freebees related to your subject – I put links to Harry Potter games, fonts, sites, and more.

- Anything to attract your target audience

My website has extensive pages on getting published and teaching grammar and writing for my students. And it’s still growing! Each time I speak at a conference, I produce handouts, reading lists, or powerpoints related to my topic. Before the conference I post these on my site and tell everyone in the room that they can find extra resources there. On one fairytale panel, I announced that I had an enormous book list on the topic available on my site and that I would add all the books from our talk. At that and other talks, every person in the room wanted my card for just this reason.

Advertising your Website

Every author site has room for a link to your website. I put it in my bio for every conference and in my email signature. Linking to a colleague’s site if he or she will link to yours is good.

Email Signature

Here’s mine, on each email I send. Quick to set up, and helps remind everyone what I’ve written.

Valerie Estelle Frankel

Author of From Girl to Goddess:

The Heroine's Journey through Myth and Legend

http://www.vefrankel.com

Some people like to add a picture.

Webrings

Webrings are another excellent source – These are a little old-fashioned in the web world, but I set mine up ten years ago, and most are still good. Back then, I went to webring.com and joined a few hundred in my subject field. They’re like a club or a set of links – if you like this website, try these thirty or three hundred others. Ones tied to writing organizations are especially prestigious, while ones for your target audience (strong heroines, memoirs, mysteries) will generate traffic. I also add lots of author rings. Though I admit I really should update them, the ones I have are still busy collecting lots of traffic.

Blog

I should update my blog more, I know. The truth is, I’d rather be writing for publication. A blog will attract people to your site if it’s about something people care about: Travel, writing tips, your book’s subject. Publishers, too, like to know you have a blog with lots of followers. Authors can build one free at networkeddblogs.com or wordpress.com, add friends from social media, and post announcements. When I do update my blog, I know it’s being copied to my Amazon, Facebook, and Goodreads sites, to increase my readership. Lots of reciprocal links and online friends will help too.

Blogs today are expected to have a theme: a pop culture blog, a dating tips blog, a book review blog. Your logical theme would tie in with your book or genre. Do sort the posts with categories and tags so people can find them easily.

Post frequently on your subject…you can post old material like essay drafts too short to publish or short reflections on life. I’ve found even conference abstracts or handouts (or the entire paper) will work for a post. When I decided to create a pop culture blog, I pasted in my abstracts on Harry Potter and Hunger Games papers, handouts and lists I’d made for conferences, and so on. Holiday letters would work as well, to create a detailed pop culture blog at http://valeriefrankel.wordpress.com.

Things to do on Wordpress (or any other blog site):

Create a public profile with your photo and bio

Update your “About” Page

Add a theme

Upload bookcover photos

Add Widgets including Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads

Import friends from Facebook, Twitter, or Google http://wordpress.com/#!/read/find-friends

Link the page to social media accounts

Link Blogger and Wordpress so posting on one posts on the other. Instructions are available:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/blogger-to-wordpress-redirection

http://wordpress2blogger.appspot.com

Get Reviews

When you ask someone to review your book, you’re asking them to take the time to read it. Reviewers get so many books, far more than they can manage to read. So when a reviewer politely (or not so politely) says no, or takes three months to review it, don’t be discouraged.

To get reviews, write an exciting one page letter that’s basically a query letter – here’s the pitch; it’s so exciting the reviewer can’t say no (mine’s in the appendix). Then mail it out. Yes, this costs a book plus postage, but they are in fact doing you a favor – keeping the book is an expected perk for reviewers. I sign mine and pop in a bookmark and sell sheet. A traditional publisher may be happy to mail review copies to the reviewers on your list as well as his – you can always ask. Of course, if a reviewer will take an ebook, that’s certainly nice. No postage issues or book cost and you can get advance reviews to put on your book cover. I make sure to offer it to them in any format in my query.

Some places are known to take self-published books. In any case, I wouldn’t volunteer the information that yours is self-published, if it is. (http://www.midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/advice/revself.htm has some advice on this). If your topic is interesting enough, you can get reviewed regardless of your publisher. If you’re seeking reviews, including for self-published, I might start with these:

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/get_rev.htm

http://rambles.net

http://www.novelcritic.com/reviews/contact

http://indiereader.com

Social Media Groups

Goodreads groups – post your request for reviewers in “self promotion” groups or “author” and “reviewer” groups like http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/60696.Making_Connections.

Shelfari and Librarything groups

Facebook groups, like https://www.facebook.com/groups/reviewseekers

Lists of Review Magazines

http://TheCompleteReview.com

http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Reviews/

http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/

http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net/reviewer-list.html

http://robinmizell.wordpress.com/book-reviewers/

http://karinafabian.com/index.php?name=Content&pid=28

Book Review Blogs

In very recent years, Book Review Blogs have started spreading. Many will take ebooks, many will post on a variety of sites like GoodReads. You just have to interest them in your product.

I did a search and came up with hundreds of book blog sites on the lists below. I visited each blog, found a contact button (if possible) and emailed them my review query, unless the genre they wanted was too far off. Time consuming? Yes. But free – I only mail books if they email back and agree to review (okay, it can take a while and there’s no guarantees) and some will take ebooks. In just a few weeks, I had reviews up on Amazon.

http://podpeep.blogspot.com

http://yougottaread.com/get-reviewed

http://www.tinahunter.ca/links/ebook-reviewers

http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net/reviewer-list.html

http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/ebook-reviewers.html

http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/reviewers-of-children-young-adult-books.html

http://bookblogs.ning.com

http://blogs.botw.org/Arts/Literature/Book_Reviews

http://www.rimworlds.com/thecrotchetyoldfan/?p=4956

Fellow Authors, Friends and Family

Since everyone’s equally desperate for a little publicity it makes sense to ask other authors for favors. Ask them if they’ll tag your book in exchange for you tagging theirs. Review each others’. I took this a step further and emailed a bunch of Amazon’s top reviewers – many wanted to exchange. Only some listed their contact info on their profiles, so it took some time to find them.

Of course, friends and family are a great option too. Ask for just a short review on Amazon – a couple sentences. And while they’re there, perhaps they could “like” your book and tag it. Just a little of this makes your Amazon page look busy and the book look popular. Remember to “like” the page and any good reviews and tag the book as well – you get one vote like everyone else. Having (a very kind) friend copy the review all over the web is nice, but honestly, many book sites copy the reviews off Amazon already, so it’s not strictly necessary.

My parents also take the time to “like” my book on Amazon and announce it on Facebook and in holiday letters. Both parents have been known to buy signed copies to give to their friends, and my dad does a surprisingly steady business just keeping sample copies on his desk. I make sure my parents have plenty of bookmarks to hand out too.

Places where anyone (including your mom or your best friend) can post a book review

Alibris.com

Allreaders.com

AuthorsDen.com

Book-Views.com

Bookblogs.Ning.com

BookCrossing.com

Books.Google.com

BooksAMillion.com

Book Mooch

Chapters.Indigo.ca

EzineArticles

Face Book Visual Bookshelf

FetchBook.info

FiledBy.com

Flapjacket.com (children/teen/ya only)

Gather.com

GoodReads.com

IJustFinishedReading.Tribe.net

LibraryThing.com

Living Social Books

PaperbackSwap.com

Powells.com

Searchwarp.com

Shelfari.com

Swap Tree

Take 2

Worldcat.org

Reviewer’s Blog or Social Media

Getting Tags

Along with asking friends and family, and doing exchanges with authors you know, there are many sites with boards for tag exchanges. Some in the CreateSpace forums and tagmybookonAmazon.com appear to be offline. But I’ve found more on http://authormarketingclub.com and in Goodreads groups. Just look around.

Express Reviews

Many people say you should never pay for reviews. They have a point. But if you’ve tried friends and traditional options and you’re still not getting any, you may want to pay for an express review or two. Having a couple prompt, guaranteed reviews can take off the frustration and make your Amazon page or back cover look so much better. It’s at least worth considering. Just a few reviews makes Amazon look busy enough, and you can start promoting while you wait for more to trickle in. These websites offer an Express Review (note: you’re paying for the speed – these websites will do free reviews, and whether they like the book certainly isn’t guaranteed). They will all post to Amazon and will generally review ARCs, eBooks, POD books, older books, and other books that have trouble getting reviewed, so you can get cover blurbs before your book is released.

http://ReaderViews.com – $119 – 2 weeks

http://FeatheredQuill.com – $75 2-4 weeks

http://BookReview.com – $175 – 3 weeks

http://Rebeccasreads.com – $90 – 2 weeks

Some of these offer other services: interviews, trailers, a spotlighted place on their site, and so forth. Think about what they’re charging and whether you can find these other places.

Other Interesting Review Options

- http://reviews4reviews.com lets authors list titles for $10 each and arrange to trade books with other authors seeking reviews.

- The website Rebecca’s Reads will guarantee 5 bloggers to review your book for $100.

- ReviewTheBook.com will let you post your book for a fee. (1 book title: $25.00, 5 book titles: $100.00, 10 book titles: $150.00). Reviewers can request the title, and are required to post their review on ten different sites. Still, you need the kind of enticing book the reviewers will request.

Promoting your Book in Person

Speaking engagements and parties are wonderful for convincing people to buy. I don’t generally do a press release each time I speak, but I might send an email to friends and family, or post an invite or announcement on Facebook. Places like Goodreads also have places to post these. And there are quite a lots of places to speak out there:

Parties

Can you throw a book party at your house? Or get a friend to do it? Perhaps it would sync well with a holiday like Valentine’s Day, a cooking demo, a Victorian tea, a costume contest….the possibilities are endless. My mom and brother both threw parties, which meant their friends came and bought books – useful, since my friends had already heard all about it.

Recording the Experience

If you’re doing a special presentation or talk at a party, you might consider having a friend videotape it to put on Youtube, Goodreads, your Amazon author page, and your website. An interview is another good thing to post.

Conferences

I speak about ten times a year at conferences within my field: Harry Potter cons, goddess cons, general fantasy cons – figure out your field and do a search. Some people like to get a table to display and sell their books, but those can be expensive, and I don’t want to be tied down. Also, some cons require sellers permits. When I arrive, I go to the dealer’s room with copies of my book, and politely ask the independent booksellers to carry a few. They don’t always say yes, but often they will, and I’ve started building up a reputation with many dealers. I carry bookmarks around the con and to the evening parties and mixers, and talk to lots of people – they’re already interested in my subject, after all!

Many of my conferences are through various societies:

Regional groups like California Writers Club

Genre groups like The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators or Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Minority groups like The Women’s National Book Association

Wider groups:

PMA-The Independent Book Publishers Association

American Society of Journalists and Authors

The Author’s Guild

These groups often host conferences with agents and publishers, reserve tables at book fairs, and allow lots of networking with details on local events. I’ve gotten tips and articles in their newsletters, heard about events and joint readings through their message boards, and even done some public speaking with them. Try searching for your genre, using a term like “Bay Area” writers, or even finding fan groups on meetup.com. Some are listed at http://publishingcentral.com/subject.html?sid=1

Checklist to Bring to Conventions:

Bookmarks, postcards, flyers, or other freebees

Business cards with real contact info – I frequently scribble a personal note on these before I hand them over

Several good pens

A couple sell sheets

Reading flyers to post on the walls

A sample copy of each book, unless things get too heavy

A bag (conferences often give everyone a tote bag, I generally bring one or an entire rolling bag if things get heavy. Some people prefer a folder, with paper for taking notes.

Craft Fairs and Holiday Fairs

Renting an entire booth at an art fair gets expensive. Unless your book sells very well, it’s probably not cost effective. But sharing a table among six of you and taking turns manning it is far more logical (there are writing societies that can help coordinate that). My local groups have clued me into some cheaper options, as they sponsor library book fairs and other small events. My books are gift books for kids, so the holidays are particularly good for mine.

Bookstores

It can be difficult to get self published books in stores. My academic books have trouble too. Of course, when I had a friend who worked at Barnes and Noble, he stocked the book and arranged for three signings. Barnes and Noble also allows authors to send them a copy, along with any reviews and other promotional materials. Details are at http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/for_authors/how_to_work_with_bn/how_to_work_with_bn.html

Still, my best bet has been with independent bookstores and consignment. Find independent stores in your area and send them a nice letter or better yet, show up in person. Chat them up at conferences. If there’s a logical event or holiday to link your book to, bring it up. Offer to let them put a few copies on the shelf and see if they sell. Many stores will make an effort for local authors. Just be friendly and flexible. I bring sell sheets and sample copies – I keep them all in the car anyway.

Libraries

Dropping your book in the library’s donation slot won’t get your book on their shelves, just sent straight to their fundraising book sale. To have the library stock your book, you need to ask. I show up with a sell sheet and a smile. Libraries usually buy from Baker & Taylor, not Amazon, but they will make exceptions. I asked the local librarian to stock my book, and though they don’t usually do self published, she said she’d make an exception since I was a) a local author with b) nice Amazon reviews. You can try many libraries of course, including ones with online forms for book purchase requests. When people can’t afford my books (admittedly, one of mine is the $35 academic book From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey in Myth and Legend ) I suggest they ask their local library to stock it – everybody wins! I also email a letter to libraries (almost identical to the bookstore one) offering what I can do and saying I’d be happy to speak.

Web Promotion (Costs Time)

The key to all the online publicity is copy-paste. Your book’s back cover paragraph, an author bio, any endorsements, and a list of keywords can be pasted onto every site, and you only need write them once. I keep these all in a folder along with photos of me and the bookcover. I also line all these up on my webpage and call it a “Media Kit.”

Many sites are increasingly tied to Facebook or Twitter. Once you have that page up, you can just sign in with Facebook and import friends – also a big time saver. Some will also let you import an Amazon wish list.

I’m going to mention so many sites where I can post. How often should an author stop by, say, LibraryThing or AuthorsDen to check out friend requests and update things? Well, with this many sites, I sometimes don’t drop in for a year or more. But when I’m posting a new book to all these places, I see if I have friend requests and/or if I have new product information or other goodies to post.

Amazon

Most people, upon learning about a book, go to Amazon for more details. So it’s essential that your Amazon page look as busy as possible. You want reviews, tags, people “liking” your book, lists and guides, a blog, and anything else you can squeeze on there. And of course, you want accurate details.

Most reviewers will post there without being asked. Remember visitors will be able to see the top three or so reviews by how many people marked them helpful. So you and your friends can control which reviews are seen and push a bad one to the bottom. For my parodies, I was okay getting a few bad ones, as it added controversy – I’d rather get ten good and ten bad than only three total (as it turned out, they were almost all good).

Amazon to do List:

Make sure all the book’s details are correct.

Make an Amazon Author Page at Author Central.

Set up Search Inside the Book

Tag the page with the best tags in your opinion

Check the ebook’s page and tag it as well

Gather reviews and tags

Amazon Author Central

Set up a profile if you haven’t at https://authorcentral.amazon.com

“Add” all your books.

Post the best snippets in “Editorial reviews” as you get them

Post an author bio, photo, book trailers, and author events.

Link the page to your twitter, website, and blog.

Amazon Listmania, So You’d Like to…

Setting up a few of these lists with your book on them is another good idea. Make lists to appeal to your audience: “So you’d like to read lots of parodies? Or learn about the hero’s and heroine’s journey?” List your book and the top ten like yours. It’s a good way to help your book get found.

Amazon Kindle Select Program

Amazon is now allowing writers to do an ebook giveaway and “sell” their Kindle edition for FREE for five days out of every three months. However, your book cannot be for sale on any other websites. Giving the book away actually does increase sales. And of course, you can publicize your promotion on all your social media sites. Some have found this program to work well but author shouldn’t discount the possible sales from Smashwords and other channels.

Goodreads

As the Goodreads site explains, “Becoming a Goodreads Author carries special privileges, such as the ability to edit profile information, add book cover images, post events, write a blog, upload videos, and start Author Q&A groups.” You can find out how to get started at http://www.goodreads.com/author/program. And there’s plenty of great resources.

Goodreads Checklist:

Make your profile

Add some friends off Facebook, email, or other social media

Add all your books with covers, tags, and detailed info

Add your book to appropriate lists like, in my case, “What to read after The Hunger Games.”

Ask reviewers to post their reviews on Goodreads – many do anyway.

Link Goodreads to your Facebook page and “like” the book there.

Post the ebook and make the first 20% free to read

at http://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

If you have a blog, copy it into the Blog section on http://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

Add your video trailer to your profile page

Search for and join “self promotion” groups or “author” “like on Amazon” “Tag on Amazon.” and “reviewer” groups and post your announcement, request for reviewers, and any giveaways or events. Make sure to follow the directions.

Search for and join target audience groups like YA readers or horror novel fans. Post your announcement or join in discussions.

Post a few chapters in the “Writing” section

Link your blog to the page so it shows up on Goodreads

Do a giveaway http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway and post it to social media

Post a signing or other public event http://www.goodreads.com/event/

Make a quiz on your topic http://www.goodreads.com/quizzes

Giveaways

So I gave away a few copies of my book for free, and paid for shipping as well, by signing up on the Goodreads Giveaway program (http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway). What did that get me? Well, 754 and then 832 people registered for my two giveaways, thanks to my mentioning them on social media and free giveaway sites. That means all those people know it exists (admittedly, there were some repeats). Further, 341 people added it to their Goodreads bookshelves. There’s no knowing how many will buy it off Amazon for themselves or a friend, but the fact is, word on the book is spreading. All for four free copies.

Shelfari and Library Thing

These work similarly to Goodreads, and one can repeat the entire checklist there.

Forums and Chatrooms

I visit forums or chatrooms on my topic (like http://thefandomnet.proboards.com) and make intelligent comments to threads I find interesting. (I am a fan and expert of my topic, after all.) On these forums, I create a profile with a pic, bio, and website at least (no need for all those boxes about which music I like). There’s also a place to create a signature, which is automatically added to the end of each post:

Valerie Frankel, author of Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games

http://HarryPotterParody.com

This is especially good if your site and book offer further information on the topic. If I have community news, like an upcoming conference, I make sure to post that, since I want lots of fans to read my comments and signature. I use the same username and password on all of these fansites, in order to brand myself and keep it all straight in my head. Once again, copy-paste becomes terribly useful. The other good part is that those posts will last forever, driving fans toward your site.

Free Writer’s Sites

Many book sites will let you post a link, chapters, trailer, and so forth, or add tags and ratings to your book. (There are enough free ones that I’d need big incentives to pay.) Kindlegraph.com lets you “sign” a kindle, a fun service to offer on your website. For a minute of your time, the references will be up forever and may increase traffic. I probably get the most responses from my sample chapters on Goodreads – seems like someone’s always “liking” them.

Goodreads.com

Shelfari.com

LibraryThing.com

Weread.com

AuthorsDen.com

AuthorMarketingClub.com

DeviantArt.com

writerscafe.org

jacketflap.com

authornation.com

youwriteon.com

webook.com

oncewritten.com

firstwriter.com

figment.com

booksie.com

writing.com

writers.net

kindleboards.com

nookboards.com

mobileread.com

Book Trailer

This is a popular tool for advertising one’s book in recent years. It’s a short video commercial for your book that will attract traffic to your website and hopefully some sales. Like most of the other tools out there, you can hire someone to make it. But won’t you, who knows your book so well, do a better job? And after a couple hours to put it together, you can distribute it everywhere and it’s good forever. (http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com/2012/04/live-and-let-fly-blog-tour-making.html has some lovely tips on how to decide what goes in it).

How to do it:

For the Harry Potter parodies, I found an online flash editor and pasted my own text and graphics into their template. I remember seeking images of flying pigs, giant mushrooms, haunted castles, and basically the images I’d considered for decorating my website. I liked the video I came up with, but this year’s solution seemed much quicker and easier:

First I downloaded PhotoStory3 for Windows (it’s free!). I searched for royalty-free clipart online that’s related to my book, (particularly easy for me on the Hunger Games project as I’d already found it all to put in my book and on my website). Then I arranged the photos in a simple slideshow and added text over each one. I began with my hook, then the bookcover, then some interesting facts from the book, then my book cover again and website. The key is small amounts of text that look good and are easy to read. I added a few effects, but mostly kept things simple. I had to do a few drafts, as the low dpi pictures didn’t look good, and sometimes the text came out funny, but I finished with a workable product.

To top it off I downloaded some royalty free, no-cost theme music from http://www.purple-planet.com. (PhotoStory will also let people narrate if they prefer, but I let the text and pics do the work). I was quite pleased with their selection, and it turns out the web is full of dramatic soundtracks designed for television and web videos.

Here’s the finished product: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmSnEbwmKP8

Distributing the Book Trailer

Uploading this to YouTube.com is the easiest of all – just make yourself an account and hit the upload button. And don’t forget keywords – they’re how people will find it. Hit the buttons to upload your video to Twitter and Facebook while you’re at it.

I put the book trailer on my own website, of course, and then I searched the web for other places that welcome book trailers. Since the hard part is done, I should distribute the trailer everywhere I can and have it ready to go when people ask.

My search got me lots of writer’s blogs suggesting exactly what to do with my trailer – the important thing to remember with self-publishing is that many people have done this before. Here’s the checklist:

1. Post video on your author website

2. Post video on Facebook (post book video in appropriate Facebook Group, plug video when promoting book in discussion groups or posts)

3. Tweet about your video on Twitter

4. Enter the trailer in contests at http://thenewcoveytrailerawards.blogspot.com and www.yougottareadvideos.blogspot.com.

5. http://www.book-trailers.net/2007/08/how-to-submit-book-trailer.html

6. Amazon Author Page, Goodreads home page, jacketflap.com profile

7. http://www.previewthebook.com

8. Promote video on Goodreads lists like http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/244001-post-view-a-book-video-trailer

9. Post on http://Veoh.com, http://booktrailers.ning.com and Ratemybookvideo.wordpress.com

When you’re “sharing” the video, some people would like an embed code and some want a link. Read carefully to find out which (for the embed code, go to your video on YouTube and click the “Share” button. The code will pop up for you to copy-paste.

Author interviews and readings are good videos to post too. If you’ll be speaking anyway, see if you can bring a friend with a camera.

My Twitter Experiment

A few daring people have posted their entire books on Twitter. More have distributed helpful hints, jokes, interesting facts, Q and A’s…the list just keeps going. Since my own guide to The Hunger Games is like a dictionary full of short entries, I decided to give this a try: the day before the movie release and through the weekend, I posted chunks of my books as tweets. I hoped people might be intrigued and follow me, visit my website, buy the book, or read the free sample. The catch as you may know, is that each post must be 140 characters or less (counting hashtags!). So the day before I spent a couple hours turning book entries into little teasers with Microsoft Word’s word count feature. All were labeled as #hungergames, plus a few variants like #thehungergames or similar topics to draw people in. On my Twitter profile, I linked my page to Facebook so the tweets would show up there too.

Before posting, I started advertising on Facebook and Goodreads inside the Hunger Games Groups. (Of course only the groups with hundreds or thousands of members are worth bothering with. I move right past smaller groups).

Facebook post, posted in Hunger Games Groups:

To celebrate the upcoming movie, I'm gonna post my Guide to Names in The Hunger Games on Twitter – the deeper meanings behind each character's name in short tweets. It all begins today. Find them as #hungergames @valeriefrankel http://www.amazon.com/Katniss-Cattail-Unauthorized-Symbols-Suzanne/dp/146996824X

Goodreads invitation, posted in Hunger Games Groups:

Date:

March 21, 2012    12:36PM – March 31, 2012    11:36AM

Venue:

web, US

Type:

author appearance

Website:

https://twitter.com/#!/valeriefrankel

Added by:

Valerie Estelle Frankel

Description:

Who was Cinna? What do the hawthorn and primrose symbolize? Or President Snow’s garden and Peeta’s bread? What about Katniss’s last name?

To celebrate the upcoming movie, I’m gonna post Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games free on Twitter – the deeper meanings behind each character’s name in short tweets. It all begins today, 2/21. Find them as #hungergames @valeriefrankel

Hope to see you there!

Through my experiment, I gathered about 20 Twitter followers. Over a thousand Facebook friends got to see all my posts, and sales went up (though I had several different promotion strategies going that weekend). Was all the tweeting worth it? Unlikely, but I’m glad I tried it.

Paperbackswap.com

All right, if you list it there, you’ll be giving away a shiny new book, plus shipping, in exchange for a used paperback of your choice. But if you have some copies that have been beaten up from getting hauled in too many suitcases, this is a good place to put them. As with eBay, I knew that everyone searching for “Hunger Games” would stumble across this one, and I wanted the publicity.

Press Releases

First of all, there are so many free PR distribution sites that I wouldn’t recommend paying. Writing the press release isn’t tough either. I write one for the book’s release and another each time I win an award. This includes a headline: “Award winning author publishes new book on reorganizing the kitchen” (or whatever) followed by a sentence or two of headline like you’re writing a newspaper article. Then you can paste in your book summary, bio, etc. A press release also contains contact info in case the newspapers receiving this want more information. Many press release companies would also like a one-sentence summary, keywords, a picture, etc. Then search the web for “Free press release distribution” or similar, and input your data into the website.

I’m not certain how many sales this approach has gotten me – to be honest, the San Jose State PR person got my book’s newspaper article around the world, but I haven’t seen many articles written from my own distributions. Then again, they don’t take too long to do. Most companies make you register, but if you expect to have multiple books and award worthy news about them, it’s likely worth a little time.

i-newswire.com

prlog.org

prfree.com

pr.com/pressreleases

free-press-release.com

pressreleasepoint.com

Free-Press-Release.com

24-7pressrelease.com

Ecommwire.com

1888pressrelease.com

express-press-release.net

free-press-release-center.info

NewswireToday.com

PR.com

PR9.net.

PR-Inside.com

PRBuzz.com

PRCompass.com

PRUrgent.com

Press-Base.com

PressAbout.com

PressMethod.com

PRLeap.com

PRLog.org

TheOpenPress.com

Ebay

Ebay is all about keywords. In a week, I had 44 people watching my ebay auction. Why? Because I listed it as

Signed Autographed Guide to Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games

This was the month before The Hunger Games movie came out and the book was hot (by contrast in 2012, 14 people were watching “Signed Autographed First Edition Harry Potter Parody for Kids.” How did people find these books? I assume they were searching for “Signed Hunger Games” and my book popped up too.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting you lie about your product – that won’t get you many sales! But my descriptions are accurate AND placed to hit the best keyword searches – fans of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games can find my books, so I’ve reached my target audience.

At the Post Office

Many people don’t like ebay sales because mailing books each week is a pain. But I’m used to it, and it’s not so bad. First, I price-checked online and bought a giant box of padded mailer envelopes in the right size (remember also, some people may order two books). Then when people offer to review it or buy it on ebay, I head for the post office. I remember to sign each book and drop in a bookmark, plus a sell sheet if it’s going to stores or reviewers. For a new book, determining the weight is important – I have one big book that’s cheaper to send priority mail than first class, and priority mail comes with envelopes and boxes included. Media mail is your friend if speed isn’t an issue (if it is, first class is quite fast). If you’re willing to ship internationally (including Canada), you’ll have to fill out a customs form for each order. You can, of course, charge more shipping on eBay to cover this.

Promotion Programs (Costs Money)

Awards

Book awards all offer some publicity and have enough categories to give you a chance to win.

Cost: Varies

Pros: Your book has won an award! You can then brag about this on all your social media and send out a press release. In fact, the award company will likely send their own press release. Some authors put “Award Winner” stickers on their book covers or print it on the jackets. And of course, this goes on your own website. This is like a review – a public acknowledgement that your book has done well. And after winning even one, you can call the book “award winning” on every piece of promotional material.

Cons: Like all the other tools, these can get expensive. After you pay an entry fee, there’s no guarantee you’ll win. And some books fit the categories better than others. I generally try for a FEW awards IF my book fits clearly into one of their categories so that I think it has a reasonable shot. (I apply to one category, not a long list of them). I also don’t reapply to awards I’ve won with new books: for book one, I won an Indie Excellence Award and a USA Book News National Best Book Award. I therefore DIDN’T send the sequel to those two, but submitted it instead for a Dream Realm Award. This way the SERIES has won three different awards. Another choice would be to only enter book one in award programs for this reason. Remember, even if you write other series, you can still say the author has won these awards. Also, most awards are only for books published the previous year (with, say a spring 2012 deadline for 2011 books), so you’ll need to pay attention to dates.

Worth it? Probably for a few awards, especially on your first book. For the sequel, I just wrote on the book cover that the series had won various awards.

Independent author awards:

Ippy Awards $75 http://www.independentpublisher.com/ipland/LearnMore.php

Indie Excellence Award $69 http://www.indieexcellence.com

Indie Book Awards $75 http://www.indiebookawards.com

Nautilus Award $185 http://www.nautilusbookawards.com

Writer’s Digest Self Published Award $100 http://www.writersdigest.com/competitions/selfpublished

USA Book News Best Book Award $69 http://www.usabooknews.com

Independent Book Awards free http://independentbookawards.com

Hoffer Award $50 http://www.hofferaward.com/HAbooks.html

Benjamin Franklin Awards $90 http://ibpabenjaminfranklinawards.com

Trade Show Combined Book Exhibits

Cost: For about $100 per show, various companies will take your book and display it at the big trade shows like Book Expo America.

Pros: Librarians, reviewers, publishers, and the top people in the book industry will be walking by your book in places too expensive for you to travel.

Cons: I’ve seen these displays – your book is placed (with the front cover showing) on a display shelf among maybe a hundred others among a thousand booths. It’s not that noticeable without a person standing in front, singing the book’s praises.

Worth it? Probably not

Major book trade shows:

Book Expo America (BEA)

Christian Retail Show (CBA)

American Library Association Annual Conference (ALA)

American Library Association Midwinter Conference (ALA)

Public Libraries Association (PLA)

Association of College and Research Librarians (ACRL)

American Association of School Librarians (AASL)

Texas Library Association (TLA)

Other state and regional library shows

Frankfurt Book Fair

London Book Fair

These organizations provide co-op display services at a number of national, international and regional shows:

Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA)

Combined Book Exhibit

Jenkins – Global Book Shows

Association Book Exhibit

Writer’s Organizations

I have at one time or other been a member of the following groups:

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators; Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America; The American Society of Journalists and Authors; Women's National Book Association; California Writer’s Club; The Independent Book Publishers Association; Small Publishers, Artists, and Writers Network; Small Publishers Association of North America.

I also have a critique group and a number of genre-specific (as opposed to publishing and writing) memberships. The question is, what benefits do they provide? And are they worth it?

All societies (most likely) provide:

A place to display and possibly sell all your books

A forum to chat with other writer-members

A newsletter

An annual conference (which may or may not be in a useful location)

Some societies like SCBWI have a network of regional conferences, which I’ve found useful and fun.

Some societies offer a list of discounts for writers, even including health benefits.

Some like ASJA have freelance writer job postings.

Some like Broad Universe will sell and advertise you

Before joining, go to the society’s membership benefits page (they all have one) and see what you’ll be getting. SCBWI has been worth my time, with regional conferences and meetings plus a wonderful directory of agents and publishers. SFWA has been less directly useful, but I spend so much time in the scifi-fantasy world that I like to stay in its top organization. SPAN, SPAWN, and IBPA had some benefits and discounts I wanted when I published my first book, including a bookstore marketing program and chance to work at their BEA booth. Also, joining one meant discounts on joining another when I did so in the correct order. I’ve been speaking at lots of local CWC branches, spreading news of my books. Broad Universe, with joint readings and book tables for women in genre has been fantastic. Their Yahoo Group has also sent me many useful contests and opportunities.

Book Expo America

Book Expo America is the industry conference. There are publishers, agents, and foreign rights specialists by the thousands. Authors, booksellers, librarians, and more. For a fee, you can hand out sample books or review copies as well as bookmarks and other promotional materials as part of the official conference. When I attended, I not only did this but also arranged to show off my book at any booths where I’d won awards and any organizations’ booths for which I was a member. (I did not get my own booth, which is quite expensive). I also passed out bookmarks to everyone waiting in the long lines. In short, I made the most of my visit. And picked up hundreds of wonderful free books.

Cost: around $100 plus attending fee

Pros: While anyone can attend BEA, most people there are librarians, reviewers, publishers, and the top people in the book industry. This spreads your book among the top people from all over the world, many of whom will tell their friends. Your book is also mentioned in the program guide if you register as an author and do the giveaway. Also, if you sign at your organizations’ tables (such as the Mystery Writers of America) you can coast on their reputation and network while handing out books or promotional materials.

Cons: You are paying to hand out free copies – this can get expensive (not to mention transporting them there). Consider ordering books shipped straight to the con to lower expenses (if you can’t drive them there). Also, people are receiving hundreds and hundreds of free books. If you don’t have a particular hook, the overburdened attendees are likely to refuse – it’s disheartening as they tell you they don’t want your book, even free of charge.

Worth it? Maybe

Radio and TV Spots

Cost: varies

Pros: The radio or TV stations make an effort to have you mention your website and promote your book. And these get many many listeners.

Cons: Check whether the target audience is actually likely to buy your book – does the program fit your topic? These can also be quite costly to set up. If it’s free, definitely say yes. But if there’s a charge as various companies or agents arrange these guest spots, consider whether this is the best place to put your money.

Indie Bound Advance Access

http://www.bookweb.org/indiebound/publishers/advanceaccess

As their website explains:

Each month, we email over 1,000 independent booksellers with news of galleys, reading copies or finished books that publishers are offering for review. After receiving a free review copy from you, stores will read and decide whether to carry the title. We make no promises, but the Advance Access program has proved to be a very effective way to get the word out about titles. Stores will email you directly, and generally, you can expect requests from 25-50 booksellers.

Cost: $150 per title, half price if you’re a member of certain organizations

Pros: Distributing advance copies to bookstores lets them know your book exists and may persuade them they want it. It’s a good way to get the word out.

Cons: You have to supply the books plus shipping costs.

Worth it? Maybe…if your book is in Ingram listed as returnable and has a good chance of being picked up by stores.

Publishers Portal

PublishersPortal.com

This program adds sample chapters and book details to the following sites:

Barnes & Noble, Books-in-Print, Baker & Taylor Title Source 3, Buy.com, Ingram iPage, OCLC WorldCat/FirstSearch, EBSCO NextReads, Diesel Ebook Store, and selected library OPACs.

Cost: $35

Pros: You certainly want chapters distributed across the web and these are major sites.

Cons: After you distribute the ebook, this will likely happen automatically without the program.

Worth it? If you’re in a rush, or it doesn’t look like your samples are getting around the web.

Final Thoughts

Authors today, whether self- or traditionally published, are expected to do more than ever before. They should have blogs, Twitter, and Facebook accounts, on which they should post often to gather online friends and contacts. Further, they should appear at conferences and fan gatherings, equipped with promotional materials and a big smile, ready to speak on their chosen topics. It’s a lot of work, as much or more than writing the book itself. And of course, once the book is done, there are sequels and other series to begin. Still, there are many paths to selling piles of copies…and they aren’t all traditional.

Appendix

My Hunger Games Guide Cover

The back cover is a Word document saved as a very high quality picture using a file converter though I likely should’ve used Printscreen). This image was then pasted into a full size jpg picture (8.5 height by 5.5 back width plus 5.5 front width plus spine plus [1.25 bleed times four sides]) using a graphics program (Createspace has a calculator tool for spine width and a template for covers). The template was pasted over this temporarily to make sure there was enough margin around the edges. The text on the front and spine were created and manipulated for size and position in the graphics program as were the bird and arrow pictures. A search online for free fonts produced the Embossed-style lettering and the Hunger Games font. Note the large empty square on the back cover, left for the CreateSpace barcode. This cover was deliberately made simple and stark to imitate the original Hunger Games cover.

Full Cover with Spine for a 5.5 x 8.5 Book

This one had a self-publishing company (Northbound Press), so they made the spine and formatted the back cover. I sent them the front cover art (designed by an artist on DeviantArt) and a Word file with the desired back cover text.

Back Cover in detail:

[Summary]

Catastrophe strikes Chickenfeet Academy, and it’s not just the cafeteria food. Lord Revolting, murderous goldfish-flusher, needs Really Wimpy’s pet rock to conquer the world! While battling him with squirt guns and cheesy how-to guides, Henry Potty aces Hobology, preps for America’s Funniest Fairygodchildren, and tries to avoid laundering Professor Snort’s dreaded hankies, or worse, watching A History of Cabbages in Polish. All the while, the least likely character watches, coveting the pet rock for her own sneaky agenda. What part does Socks the parrot, wisecracking pet of Headmaster Bumbling Bore, play in all this? Will Revolting dare the ultimate villainy and spoil the book? Will this novel waste your entire morning? There’s only one way to know…

[Taglines]

Over 100 pages of new hilarity! Watch Henry Potty face sparkly vampires in the Try Wizarding Tournament and unite all the hottest franchises into the powerful Order of the Takeout.

Unapproved, unendorsed, unofficial, and unstoppable.

[Endorsements]

I haven’t laughed out loud so much since reading Bored of the Rings. –Reader’s Robot

A laugh-out-loud, irreverent salute to our obsession with the robed pre-teen…Ms. Frankel is obviously a brilliant writer with a fantastic grasp of the Harry Potter story and its social layers. –Wild Child Publishing

Children of all ages (including adults) will adore this hilarious parody! –The Best Reviews

Like reading the Harry Potter series through warped glasses. –Vox Magazine

[Awards]

- National Indie Excellence Award

- Books & Authors Book of the Year

- USA Book News National Best Book

Front Matter Content:

To create a book’s front matter (and also back matter), study many similar books to see what they did well. A half title page has just your book’s title, while the full title page has your author name, publisher, and publisher’s logo. A dedication should be short and simple. Below is my copyright page for the Hunger Games guide, though most self publishing companies will make this themselves.

COPYRIGHT

Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games

© 2012 Valerie Estelle Frankel

ISBN: 978-1469968247

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the author, except for brief quotations used in reviews and critiques.

Katniss the Cattail is an unauthorized guide to The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. None of the individuals or companies associated with this series or any merchandise based on this series has in any way sponsored, approved, endorsed, or authorized this book.

First Edition 2012

Other Books by Valerie Estelle Frankel

Henry Potty and the Pet Rock: An Unauthorized Harry Potter Parody

Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage: An Unauthorized Harry Potter Parody

From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey in Myth and Legend

Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey (forthcoming)

Harry Potter: Still Recruiting (forthcoming)

Teaching with Harry Potter (forthcoming)

Sell Sheet

Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games

Author: Valerie Estelle Frankel

Release Date: February 2012

List Price: $6.95

ISBN-13 (print): 978-1469968247

ISBN-10 (print): 146996824X

Kindle ASIN: B0078EKMOU

Pages: 104

Ages: 12 and Up

Category: Juvenile Nonfiction / Literary Criticism & Collections

Format: Trade Paperback

Trim Size: 8.5 x 5.5

Available from: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor, Ingram, Smashwords
Author's websites: www.vefrankel.com & www.HarryPotterParody.com

Who was Cinna? What do the hawthorn and primrose symbolize? Or President Snow’s garden and Peeta’s bread? What about Katniss’s last name? Bringing details from myths, herbal guides, military histories, and the classics, English professor and award-winning pop culture author Valerie Estelle Frankel sheds light on the deeper meanings behind Panem’s heroes and villains in this hottest of YA trilogies. In her series, Collins not only weaves a heroic tale of deep complexity but harnesses the power of Shakespeare and Rome to retell an ancient epic of betrayal, violence, and glory on the stage of an apocalyptic future.

From Alma Coin to Wiress you’ll learn about

Why roses are a flower of death

Peeta’s pearl and Katniss’s salvation

How eighteen of the characters are used in Shakespeare’s plays

Katniss’s nickname Catnip

Effie the saint and Finnick the Irish hero

The meaning of “The Hanging Tree”

Valerie Estelle Frankel has won a Dream Realm Award, an Indie Excellence Award, and a USA Book News National Best Book Award for her YA novels. She is the author of four new and forthcoming books on pop culture: From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey in Myth and Legend, Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey, Teaching with Harry Potter, and Harry Potter: Still Recruiting.

Endorsements Page

Praise for Valerie Estelle Frankel and Katniss the Cattail

If you're a fan of The Hunger Games, you need this book! Period. – The Flashlight Reader

Full of thought provoking observations, Katniss the Cattail is a quick, clean read for any fan of The Hunger Games trilogy. – Sarah's Reviews

I found this book to be enlightening. It left no doubt that a significant amount of effort and time was put into decoding a great story...I would highly recommend this book to others interested in discovering the hidden meanings of The Hunger Games. – My Book Addiction and More

The depth of research Frankel put into this book was really impressive. She draws on a dizzying array of sources, which are meticulously noted in the bibliography. – Word Vagabond

After you read Valerie Frankel's Katniss the Cattail, you will have such a deeper understanding and knowledge of The Hunger Games Trilogy. – The Phantom Paragrapher

This is for hardcore fans only. – Book Bite Reviews

If you are a die hard fan of the Hunger Games series like me and enjoy reading any extra knowledge on the characters just to feel more connected to the story then you will enjoy this book. – Book Briefs

This is a superb book for any lover of The Hunger Games series. It would also be an excellent resource for writers, showing the importance of carefully considering the names of their characters…Highly recommended. – The Book Connection

If you have read the trilogy cover to cover, have seen the movie, and are still looking for something to feed your Hunger Games soul, then this is the perfect book for you! – Bookaholic Anonymous

Praise for Valerie Estelle Frankel and Henry Potty and the Pet Rock

An easy afternoon's read, enjoyable and quirky, poking light-hearted fun at the "Harry Potter" series. If you're in the mood for a silly parody it'll be perfect, and even if you aren't it'll still be fun. –Burning Void Reviews

A witty, absurd send-up with a charm all its own. Frankel doesn't so much break the fourth wall as she obliterates it with Unforgivable Curses. Looking for something to tide you over until Book 7? This book is for you. Hate the Potter craze and want Rowling to die a painful, horrible death? This book is also for you. –Seized by the Tale

Children of all ages (including adults) will enjoy this hilarious parody! –The Best Reviews

An absolutely hilarious take on the Harry Potter stories: Frankel takes a stab at re-creating a similar story line but with a few wackier characters and events. A parody like no other I've ever seen in literature: you will chuckle and laugh until your belly hurts…Silly, senseless, and totally nuts, you cannot help but enjoy the ride. –Reader Views

Like reading “The Harry Potter Series” through warped glasses. –Vox Magazine

This parody doesn't simply send up Harry Potter. It doesn't just jokingly reference numerous fantasy and fairy tale tropes. It doesn't merely assault the reader with dozens of bad puns. It does all three. And it's funny. I haven't laughed out loud so much since reading Bored of the Rings. –Reader’s Robot

It is abundantly clear that Valerie Frankel is very skilled at tickling the funny bone of every kid (and any grown up). –Writers Unlimited

The parody takes new spins on familiar themes from J. K. Rowling's popular series. Mail, for instance, is delivered not by owls but flying pigs. Students who attended the reading told the Spartan Daily they found it enjoyable. –US News and World Report, October 26, 2006

Just when you thought it was safe to bury your Harry Potter paraphernalia, Valerie Frankel attacks from the rear with a laugh out loud, irreverent salute to our obsession with the robed pre-teen…Ms. Frankel is obviously a brilliant writer with a fantastic grasp of the Harry Potter story and its social layers. –Wild Child Publishing

National Indie Excellence Award

Phelan Award for Humor & Satire

USA Book News National Best Book

Book Business Card

Bookmarks

This bookmark contains a background image, text, and a few inserted pictures. The back was made in Microsoft Word, while the front was made in a graphics program.

Reading Flyer

Bios through the Ages

My many short stories appeared in the anthologies Legends of the Pendragon, In the Outposts of Beyond, Once Upon a World, and several best of the year anthologies. My work has also been published in The Drexel Online Journal, Rosebud Magazine, Strange Horizons, and seventy other magazines. In addition, I am the youngest person ever to receive a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree from San Jose State University, where I currently teach grammar and writing. I have edited six different magazines during my years at university, both in the US and in England. As a children’s teacher, I have extensive knowledge about juvenile fiction and humor.

[My bio from the query in which I tried to sell my first Henry Potty book. At the time, I had short story sales and little else.]

Valerie Estelle Frankel was born at an early age. Her many essays and short stories have appeared in over eighty magazines and anthologies including Inside Joss’ Dollhouse, Illuminating Torchwood, Rosebud Magazine, and The Oklahoma Review. Her unauthorized parody, Henry Potty and the Pet Rock, won the Indie Excellence Award and was a USA Book News National Best Book. Following numerous pop culture essays about girl power, her latest book, From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey in Myth & Legend, has just arrived. Learn more at www.vefrankel.com.

[I added an interesting spin, details on my top sales (at the time), any awards, interests, and of course, my website. This was the bio at the time of my first book.]

Valerie Estelle Frankel has won a Dream Realm Award, an Indie Excellence Award, and a USA Book News National Best Book Award for her parodies. She is the author of five new and forthcoming books on pop culture: From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey in Myth and Legend, Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey, Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in The Hunger Games, Teaching with Harry Potter, and her project on fandom, Harry Potter: Still Recruiting. Please visit www.vefrankel.com for activities, ebooks, freebees, and more.

[Current bio, now I can focus on my books. Website still gets a mention.]

Letter to Stores

The characters in this story are trained professionals. They have a great deal of experience at flying on vacuum cleaners, creating hot dogs by magical means, or scheming to achieve eternal life and total world domination. Please, do not try these things at home.

These words begin my novel, an unauthorized Harry Potter parody written just for kids and teens. HENRY POTTY AND THE PET ROCK (Northbound Press, July 2010, 978-1-935850-00-7) is 218 pages of pure silliness for kids. Along with its sequel, Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage, it’s been featured by US News and World Report, radio shows, and fan sites from Turkey to Sweden.

I’ll be in New York City this January 21-30, attending writing conferences and promoting my new academic book on the heroine’s journey, and I’d love to arrange a reading at your store.

This book is marketed for Harry Potter age kids (ages 9-12 approximately) and is perfectly suited to all ages. It parodies much of pop culture and children’s literature, from Twilight to Narnia, along with everyone’s favorite fantasy. It’s fully returnable, and listed in Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and all the usual channels. Blurbs, reviews, programs, and a full media kit await on www.HarryPotterParody.com.

Winner of the Indie Excellence Award and USA Book News National Best Book, the 2010 special edition completes the series, squishing all seven Harry Potters into two parodies, with sparkly vampires, starship battles, muppets, and more.

Unapproved, unendorsed, unofficial, and unstoppable

For ages 2 to 222

An easy afternoon's read, enjoyable and quirky...If you're in the mood for a silly farce it'll be perfect, and even if you aren't it'll still be fun. –Burning Void Reviews

Any resemblance to a certain wildly successful fantasy novel is purely the author's intention…I haven't laughed out loud so much since reading Bored of the Rings. –Reader’s Robot

Children of all ages (including adults) will adore this hilarious parody! –Kathy Boswell, President of Reviewers International Organization

Presentations I can offer range from a hilarious reading and signing to a more complex presentation. Here are some I’ve given at The World Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, The World Fantasy Convention, radio shows, libraries, bookshops, and five international Harry Potter Conferences.

Thanks so much for your time. I eagerly await your response.

Sincerely,

Valerie Estelle Frankel

Press Release Template

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Contact Person
Company Name
Telephone Number
Fax Number
Email Address
Web site address

Headline

San Jose, CA August 23rd, 2006

Just published!

Henry Potty and the Pet Rock: An Unauthorized Harry Potter Parody by acclaimed author, teacher, and storyteller Valerie Estelle Frankel.

Catastrophe strikes Chickenfeet Academy, and it’s not just the cafeteria food. Lord Revolting, murderous goldfish-flusher, needs Really Wimpy’s pet rock to conquer the world! While battling him with squirt guns and cheesy how-to guides, Henry Potty aces Hobology, preps for America’s Funniest Fairygodchildren, and tries to avoid laundering Professor Snort’s dreaded hankies, or worse, watching A History of Cabbages in Polish. All the while, the least likely character watches, coveting the pet rock for her own sneaky agenda. What part does Socks the parrot, wisecracking pet of Headmaster Bumbling Bore, play in all this? Will Revolting dare the ultimate villainy and spoil the book? Will this novel waste your entire morning? There’s only one way to know…

Henry Potty and the Pet Rock is now available from www.HarryPotterParody.com where it may be ordered as a softcover book (5.5 x 8.5, 112 pages) or downloadable electronic book in multiple formats. Interested readers can also order it through Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, or any other favorite bookstores.

Unapproved, unendorsed, unofficial, and unstoppable: a parody for all the Harry Potter kids out there.

Henry Potty is a witty, absurd send-up with a charm all its own. Ms. Frankel doesn't so much break the fourth wall as she obliterates it with Unforgivable Curses. –Seized by the Tale

An easy afternoon's read, enjoyable and quirky...If you're in the mood for a silly farce it'll be perfect, and even if you aren't it'll still be fun. –Burning Void Reviews

Any resemblance to a certain wildly successful fantasy novel is purely the author's intention…I haven't laughed out loud so much since reading Bored of the Rings –Reader’s Robot

Children of all ages (including adults) will adore this hilarious parody! –Kathy Boswell, President of Reviewers International Organization

If there is more than 1 page use:

-more-

(The top of the next page):

For everyone who loved Harry Potter…And for everyone who didn’t.

Remainder of text.

For additional information or a sample copy, Contact:

Name

Address

Summarize product or service specifications one last time

About the Author (one short paragraph)

# # #

Review Request Letter

Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games is hitting stores just in time for the movie. It’s a book not-to-be-missed for fans of all ages: Everything Hunger Games, packed into one volume. If you enjoyed The Hunger Games, I was hoping you’d consider reviewing this paperback or ebook guide, which I’ll send upon request.

Who was Cinna? What do the hawthorn and primrose symbolize? Or President Snow’s roses and Peeta’s bread? What about Katniss’s last name? Bringing details from myths, herbal guides, military histories, and the classics, English professor and award-winning pop culture author Valerie Estelle Frankel sheds light on the deeper meanings behind Panem’s heroes and villains in this hottest of YA trilogies. In her series, Collins not only weaves a heroic tale of deep complexity but harnesses the power of Shakespeare and Rome to retell an ancient epic of betrayal, violence, and glory on the stage of an apocalyptic future.

I’m the author of four books on pop culture (From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey in Myth and Legend, Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey and Teaching with Harry Potter with McFarland and Co. and Harry Potter: Still Recruiting with Zossima Press). Winner of the Indie Excellence Award and USA Book News National Best Book, my unauthorized parody, Henry Potty and the Pet Rock, is available across the world. Along with its sequel, it’s been featured by US News and World Report, radio shows, and Potter fan sites from Turkey to Sweden.

For more information, vefrankel.com offers reviews, sell sheets, samples, a biography, bibliography, FAQ, and much more for all my books.

The book will be published in February 2012, in paperback and ebook on Amazon, Books in Print, Google Books, and similar locations. I’m happy to send the ebook in any format, or mail the paperback edition – just let me know if you’d be interested in reviewing the project. Thanks so much for your time and assistance. I eagerly await your response.

Sincerely,

Valerie Frankel

[This email, sent to many teen book review bloggers, got me about 20 reviews on Goodreads and Amazon.]

Two Successful Query Letters

Dear Mr. Mitchem:

After meeting you in the Worldcon Dealer’s Room, I was so pleased at your interest in my project. With your house’s interest in scholarly approaches to speculative fiction and pop culture, I believe this book has much to offer you:

Many know Joseph Campbell’s theory of the hero’s journey: how every man from King Arthur to Hercules travels the road from childhood to maturity, battling his dark alter-ego. Still, that very statement – every man – leaves out a great deal. From the first creation stories told around a primitive fire, heroines have battled seductresses and witches to redeem family members and awaken their innate goddesses. In a pattern that reverberates from “Cupid and Psyche” to The Mists of Avalon, the heroine seeks internal power through cleverness, not warfare. Only through defeating her dark side can she ascend to motherhood and its inherent wisdom.

- The first study ever of the heroine’s journey through world myth.

- Beloved tales in new guises from all over the world.

- New perspectives on Narnia, Harry Potter, The Golden Compass, and other topical works.

- Lively, effortless style for a spectrum of readers.

- The perfect accompaniment to this decade’s hottest movies and novels.

THE HEROINE WITH A THOUSAND HEARTS [this later became From Girl to Goddess] is close to complete at 50,000 words: Within six months, it should be finished, with an estimated length of 70,000. [The finished book was in fact 120,000 words, but the publisher said that was fine.] Marketable under pop culture, women’s studies, new-age, folklore, psychology, sociology, literary criticism, and many other topics, this book offers a long-sought key for folklorists, anthropologists, fantasy fans, readers, writers, students, teachers, and women seeking their own creative spirit.

Competing books have each sold millions of copies. Though acclaimed texts such as Women Who Run with the Wolves and The Hero with a Thousand Faces touch on this subject, no one has reinterpreted Campbell’s theories and applied them to heroines. I explore the journey much as he does, gathering primary and secondary sources from India, Morocco, Nigeria, Australia, Chile, and more. As I explore the world’s most ancient tales, I augment my work with modern technology: The book’s accompanying website offers an extensive resource database and interactive tales at http://heroine.calithwain.com.

My work has appeared in The Oklahoma Review, Rosebud Magazine, and seventy other journals and anthologies. My first novel, Henry Potty and the Pet Rock: An Unauthorized Harry Potter Parody, debuted in 2006 to outstanding reviews, with its sequel arriving this July. I was the youngest person ever to receive a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree from San Jose State University, where I now teach literature and composition. As a professor, I speak regularly at conferences, and have found a long list of masters in this field, such as Jane Yolen and Jack Zipes, eager to endorse my work. [At this point, I had short stories and two self-published novels – this became my first book sale.]

As a writer, professor, and devotee of folklore, I greatly anticipate sharing my findings with fellow enthusiasts. Thank you so much for your time. I eagerly await your response.

Sincerely,

Valerie Frankel

Another Successful Query

[Honestly, I would not really recommend such a casual, friendly tone for a query, but this is the emailed query that literally did sell my first small-press book. Previous to this, the editor at Zossima Press had considered publishing my Harry Potter parodies, and we’d spoken at a few conferences, so we had a previous acquaintance. Since I was writing to a publisher of Harry Potter-related materials, I didn’t go into detail on how well Harry Potter nonfiction sells or who the target audience would be. I was in fact just feeling him out for a more polished and detailed book proposal, which he liked. This book should be out August 2012].

Hi, it’s me again, the Henry Potty author. (I couldn’t make it to the Orlando Conference this time, but it looked like fun.) I’ve been busy finishing up my second academic book (this time on Buffy); both are coming out with McFarland.

Now I’m putting together an anthology of essays on Harry Potter and Pop Culture and was wondering if you’d be interested in publishing it. HARRY POTTER: STILL RECRUITING [Published as Harry Potter, Still Recruiting: An Insider Look at Harry Potter Fandom] looks at Harry Potter as a reflection of us, twenty-first century fans, and addresses how our pop culture has helped and been helped by the Harry Potter phenomenon. It will include prominent
scholars’ essays on Pottermore; Harry Potter and social networking; RPGs; college quidditch; the changing issue of canon post-internet; discussion of fan art, fanfiction, and Youtube mash-ups; Fannish locations such as the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Platform 9 and 3/4, Harry Potter: The Exhibition, and conferences. I’d also like to include interviews with some prominent community members, such as MuggleNet, Harry and the Potters, and Whimsic Alley. The tone would be friendly and approachable for a variety of audiences, emphasizing Harry Potter’s most recent effect on society from The Simpsons to Facebook.

If you’d like more information, I’m happy to send a book proposal with summaries of the essays to be included. Do let me know if you think this would be a good fit.

Thanks, and best wishes as always,
Valerie Frankel

Reading Group Guide

This consists of a short teaser, synopsis, discussion questions, theme list, and character list, all included below. The original one had a bio, endorsements, recommended reading list, and interview as well. A Media Kit should have somewhat similar content. This guide is available as a free download on my site. (At the time, there was some discussion of it being used for a book group. Though it hasn’t been, to my knowledge, the guide provides background on my series and encourages people to consider using it in a discussion group.)

Excerpt

So what are these National Treasures I have to find?” Henry Potty asked.

“The Mega Death Laser 3000, the Bucket of Extra Lives, and the Very Wizardly Hat. The latter can produce bunnies and trick decks of cards, and all manner of wondrous marvels. Some even say…” Here Bumbling Bore paused dramatically. “…it is alive! Most don’t, of course, but it’s still a groovy accessory.”

“And you think I should find all three? Even though I’m up to my ears in quests and items already? I mean, the motorhome’s bursting at the seams.”

Bumbling Bore nodded sagely. “You also need to find the thirteen treasures of Britain, the fourteen things on my laundry list, the three Unbelievable Curses—”

“Got those,” Henry muttered. “You were gullible enough to let Frankenstein teach us in our fourth year.”

“…A Golden Ticket, the Subtle Compass, Santa’s wishlist, Carmen Santiago, the lost plunger, the Last Manticore, the six great Stopsigns of the Light, a bottle of dehydrated water, the Perfect Chicken Strip, the Used Handkerchief of Destiny Upon Which Angels Themselves…”

“Forget it. I’m just going after the Plot Devices!”

Bumbling Bore nodded sagely. He didn’t know any other way to nod. “Then you’re a better man than I. You’ve passed the test. Many would’ve been tempted by hot babes, unlimited wealth, and domination over the entire earth. But, no, you choose to risk your life destroying the worthless fragments of Lord Revolting.”

Henry cleared his throat. “Did you say hot babes?”

Synopsis

Henry Potty and the Pet Rock: An Unauthorized Harry Potter Parody is a satire of Harry Potter (particularly book one) along with most of children’s literature. Offering crazy pop culture references, slapstick comedy, and gut-bustingly funny heroic statements, it’s been featured on US News and World Report, radio shows, and Harry Potter sites from Turkey to Sweden. The author, Valerie Estelle Frankel, lives in California, where the book takes place, though many are interested to note she wrote it while living in England. The first edition was published in August 2006 by WingSpan Press.

Lord Revolting, murderous goldfish-flusher, needs Really Wimpy’s pet rock to conquer the world. While battling him with squirt guns and cheesy how-to guides, Henry Potty aces Hobology, preps for America’s Funniest Fairygodchildren, and tries to avoid laundering Professor Snort’s dreaded hankies, or worse, watching A History of Cabbages in Polish. All the while, he has his fan club ready, down to the exclusive “Henry Potty” toothpick holders, although none of his fans exist yet. Perhaps this fourth-rate Californian school can fulfill his dreams of fame and glory and Henry Potty exclusive limited offer boxer shorts. Or at least teach him enough to master the ultimate spell: Expecta Dinosaurus Purplus. All the while, the least likely character watches, coveting the pet rock for her own sneaky agenda.

The narrative features the adventures of Henry Potty, Really Wimpy, and Horrendous Gangrene who attend Chickenfeet Academy. It features strong postmodern meta-narrative, as the characters know they’re in a book, which Lord Revolting keeps trying to spoil. The book’s narrator and even an appearance by the angry author likewise break the fourth wall.

Unlike Barry Trotter, Bored of the Rings, and other popular satires, Henry Potty is completely appropriate for children. Frankel constantly puns on other works of children’s fiction (“Next time try to miss, Piggy”), revealing her knowledge of children’s culture, along with her subtly stinging tribute to the Harry Potter Series. Frankel parodies all aspects of the Harry Potter books, including the misleading clues and unexpected culprits. Many characters from the insignificant Tollgate guard (who manufactures his own brand of toothpaste) to Lord Revolting himself claim credit for the evil doings in the book, though the real perpetrator is far more scheming. Henry Potty’s over popularity and the panic about spoilers also appear: Lord Revolting repeatedly commits the most heinous crime he can imagine: spoiling the book.

The parody begins with a list of disclaimers and warnings, including the following:

“The characters in this story are trained professionals. They have a great deal of experience at flying on vacuum cleaners, creating hot dogs by magical means, or scheming to achieve eternal life and total world domination. Please, do not try these things at home.”

The author continues on to mention the British English/American English/English English inconsistencies, parodying this Philosopher’s Stone/ Sorcerer’s Stone issues that have followed the Harry Potter series from the beginning.

The sequel is Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage. This novel is about 180 pages (and so, over a third longer than book one). It is a parody of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

As its introduction states:

“This novel, book seven, is the sequel to Henry Potty and the Pet Rock. Some might think that after book one would come book two, and then three, and so on in some logical fashion. Those people lack imagination. This author, on the other hand, has a chorus of singing potatoes to guide her.”

The devious Lord Revolting splits his soul into seven Plot Devices, from the One Ring to the Dead Man’s Chest, to say nothing of the Coloring Book of Doom. Onto the scene stumbles Henry Potty, armed with acne medicines and a first edition of Defeating Lord Revolting for Lamebrains. However, his popularity is teetering. If Henry doesn’t read his fan mail soon, his last book may metamorphosize into Sniffly Snort and the Merchandise of Terror.

Does Henry have what it takes to unite the National Treasures: The Mega Death Laser 3000, the Bucket of Extra Lives, and the Very Wizardly Hat? Is he gullible enough to quest for the Golden Fleece, the Subtle Compass, the Six Great Stopsigns of the Light, the Maltese Flagon, and the fourteen things on Bumbling Bore’s laundry list? And how long can three teens camp in the forest before the readers burn out? In this final volume, only one thing is certain: Henry Potty’s series is numbered.

Discussion Questions

1. How does this book differ from the original Harry Potter? Which characters do we see more of? Less of?

2. Which references to other children’s books could you spot? Were there some the author may have done unintentionally? Or some you wished had been there?

3. Could any of the wacky occurrences, from flying pigs to motivated pet rocks happen in Harry Potter? Why or why not?

4. We see a few references to politics, marriage, loyalty, and other “big issues” in our modern world. One commentator even saw some pro-union themes. What is the author trying to say?

5. Who is your favorite Harry Potter character? How do you feel about his/her parody version?

6. Does this book seem particularly British to you? Or particularly American? How do you feel about this form of “channel crossing”?

7. Harry Potter, marketed as 9-12, is read by all ages. Henry Potty has similar target audiences. Do they seem to appeal to the same level of readership?

8. In this series, what makes someone a hero? How do you feel about that?

9. The Henry Potty series has varied and conflicting thoughts about school, intensified by the fact that the author is a teacher…and logically, has also been a student. How do you see her thoughts on education? Do you agree?

10. Harry Potter, though beloved for its characters is sometimes criticized for their shallowness—we rarely see their inner thoughts or watch them show unexpected growth. How do the parody characters compare?

11. Between fractured fairy tales and movies like Shrek, children’s parodies seem to be rising. Is this a valuable area for kids?

12. Both these books have surprise twists, as Harry Potter does. How do these moments compare?

13. These parodies seem determined to demolish the “fourth wall” by referring to and directly addressing the audience. Are there other fictional works that do this? Were they funny and/or successful? Why does the author write this way?

14. For Pet Rock: This book was written in 2000, before book 4 and movie 1 made their first appearances. Are pop culture references in the story dated? What about things the author could/couldn’t predict about future books?

15. For Pet Rock: What do you think about the heavy references to commercialism? Are they warranted?

16. For Deathly Paper Shortage: In this final book a number of characters die, get married, settle down, and otherwise conclude in ways echoing the final Harry Potter. Which endings did you prefer? And what about the epilogues?

17. For Deathly Paper Shortage: What do you think of the treatment of homosexuality in the book? How does it fit in with current events (Rowling’s announcement about Dumbledore, gay marriage legalized in California)? Are the references appropriate for any age level?

Themes

The Moral of the Story According to the Author:

“Isn't it obvious? If a walking pile of garbage tries to steal your pet rock, fight! In fact, don’t let a walking pile of garbage get away with anything at all!” (Henry Potty official website)

Significant Quotes

“Try not to be alarmed. After all, even serious characters need a vacation.” (Pet Rock Introduction)

“The AUTHOR sighed. ‘The first person to say this book belongs in a trash bin. You think they're your friends, but they always turn on you.’” (Pet Rock 78)

“The book needs a hero,” he squeaked. “Someone to make vague threatening statements at the bad guy. A champion to prove that good can win in the end, even through total stupidity and simple luck. Someone to show the world that BEING BRAINLESS AND COURAGEOUS IN A PIG-HEADED WAY IS SOMETHING WE CAN ALL ASPIRE TO!!!” (Pet Rock 78)

“I'm the hero. I can do whatever I want. And it's my job to do the unexpected while living up to readers' expectations.” (Pet Rock 89)

“Suddenly, Henry was flattened to the ground by a stampede of adoring fans clamoring for autographs and wanting to know when the movie was coming out. Mr. Filth was in the lead, waving a singing and gagging doll that he wanted signed. Perhaps this popularity thing was a bit overdone, was Henry Potty's last conscious thought.” (Pet Rock 93)

“Within the novel lurk similar weighty issues to those in Harry Potter, including death, birth, rebirth, war, violence, sexual orientation, politics, social commentary, and cafeteria food. If you prefer to experience these issues only on TV, in computer games, on the news, and at school, rather than in books, you should not read further, or even handle this book without adequate protection.” (Deathly Paper Shortage Introduction)

“Henry Potty was so famous he couldn’t even stand it. There had been movie deals and book clubs and toothpaste brands. Conventions and media circuses and crazed fans tearing off his jacket and pants, only to reveal he’d forgotten to put on underwear that day. But it wasn’t enough.” (Deathly Paper Shortage 5)

“Don’t you want to argue about that a lot on chatrooms or buy a thousand copies of my autobiography, The Life and Times of a Total Windbag Who Happens to be Gay and Isn’t Just Saying that for Cheap Publicity? I’ve come out of the broom closet. Aren’t you intrigued?”
Henry blinked. “Maybe fifty years ago, back when interracial marriage was outlawed and people hunted squirrels for entertainment. But in the wizarding world we good guys aren’t prejudiced.” (Deathly Paper Shortage 8)

“The fans crave action, not camping and arguing about nothing. If Henry Potty doesn’t read his fan mail soon, his last book may metamorphosize on the shelves into Sniffly Snort and the Merchandise of Terror.” (Deathly Paper Shortage 69)

“Who’d think something evil could lie behind young adult books?”
“Oh, there are a few people out there,” Miffie said. (Deathly Paper Shortage 132)

“Well, the three-quarters of the school who want to see good triumph are preparing to battle Lord Revolting’s hordes of dimness. And the one quarter who think you’re a self-serving megalomaniac determined to get everyone killed are picking off both sides with pea shooters.” (Deathly Paper Shortage 154)

“Besides,” Horrendous said. “All those other relatives don’t matter.”

“Skinny does,” Really said. “She bites when you ignore her.”

“I mean the three of us are a true family.”

Henry Potty hugged them both close. “I know. I feel like you guys are my brother and sister.”

“We are,” Horrendous said. (Deathly Paper Shortage 166)

Main Characters

Henry Potty

Henry is so desperate for fame, he’s started a fan club before he has any fans! Throughout the book he offers tours, autographs, and Henry Potty Original Kindergarten Clay Shapes to anyone who doesn’t run fast enough. Though rather dumb, he scores high in all his classes, mostly thanks to luck. He also has a conscience, a gift from his fairy godmother, which gives him hints as needed.

Really Wimpy

He’s so humble, the book doesn’t even bother to introduce him. He has “shocking red hair that probably saved him a great deal of expense on flashlight batteries.” His purple sweater says in big, hot pink letters, “My mother couldn’t afford to go somewhere exotic, so she just made me this dumb sweater by hand.” He’s devoted to his pet rock, Flaky, with whom he has wonderful conversations.

Horrendous Gangrene

Horrendous proves her intelligence by carrying a ruler, protractor, calculator, compass, digital thermometer, and pair of extra socks in her top right-hand pocket protector. Though she’s smart, Henry beats her in every class, to her great frustration.

Lord Revolting

He’s tall, dark, and incredibly ugly, with green makeup slathered over his skin to increase his evil appearance. The Halloween costume that he wears was once a wicked witch’s dress, at least a wicked witch who was forty-seven and into her second husband and fifth pregnancy. Yards of extra black fabric hang off him like moldy curtains. All forms of trash coat the dress, from cream-filled cupcake wrappers to disposable diapers. He is generally known as “You Know Who.” The most evil thing he can do is spoil the book, an activity in which he persists.

Professor Whata Bumbling Bore

The Chickenfeet Academy principal generally wears hot pink surfer shorts, a t-shirt daringly cut to reveal his lack of muscles, and a pair of sunglasses with little palm trees on the sides. The principal's long white beard often trails on the ground, collecting candy wrappers and dog droppings. Whenever he speaks, students instantly fall asleep. Consequently, he teaches a very very dull history class. In his office, he keeps manacles, whips, muzzles, and a menacing video on how to paint, wallpaper, and reupholster one’s house. For repeat offenders, there’s The History of Cabbages in Polish. He also has an obnoxious parrot named Socks. Bumbling Bore is the only gizzard (like a wizard) Lord Revolting fears, mainly because he has Lord Revolting's credit card numbers.

Bonus Essay: Creating Cover Art by Mary E. Lowd, author of Otters in Space

Homemade Cover Art – Why Do It?

When I was a teenager dreaming about my grand future as a science-fiction author, more often than not that success was emblemized in my mind by the amazing cover art that I knew would grace my books, perfectly illustrating the story inside. So, when I decided to take the route of self-publishing, I was faced with the fact that I couldn't reasonably afford to hire the kind of artist that I wanted for "Otters In Space." Ideally, I would have liked Michael Whelan – who brought Anne McCaffrey's dragons and C.J. Cherryh's leonine aliens, the Hani, to life – to paint a starkly realistic anthropomorphic cat for me, backed by a sweeping vista of space filled with gleaming spaceships. Since I couldn't have that, I decided to do it myself. If it couldn't be perfect, at least, it could be free.

That is the huge advantage of do-it-yourself cover art. All it costs is time. And, as I've developed my skills, I've found it doesn't even have to cost too much of that. I've done homemade cover art for twenty-five projects. When I started out, it was an all day endeavor. By now, I can crank out four covers in an afternoon, and they look much better than my earlier ones.

Getting an Idea – Capturing a Story in Imagery

The first step in creating cover art is to figure out some aspect of the style or content of your book that you can communicate with the cover. There may be a lot of aspects that you want to communicate, but, if you're not actually a visual artist, then you'll have a better chance at creating an aesthetically pleasing, usefully descriptive cover by narrowing your scope. In the case of "Otters In Space," I didn't have the skills to paint a realistic anthropomorphic cat, but I was able to find a photograph of a cat, staring arrestingly into the camera. I couldn't paint gleaming spaceships, but I could edit public domain NASA photos of space. So, I was able to piece together a visually grabbing piece of cover art that instantly communicated to the viewer that my book was about a cat and space travel. Perfect? No. But, it was good enough to sell out a box of copies and impress a small publisher into giving me a book deal. So, I think it was good enough.

When I think of my stories, I think of all the complexity and details, but when a reader is browsing through page after page of tiny thumbnails of potential books to read, there's only time to pick up on a few simple ideas. Furthermore, those ideas are probably being communicated by tiny thumbnail images. So when deciding what kind of imagery to use in your cover art, it's best to focus on simple, clear images that will stand out, grab the viewer's attention, and be remembered. A single object – like the bright red apple from Twilight. A pair of staring eyes. A flower. These can make for compelling covers that stand out. Sometimes, a mood-setting background – like an ancient castle, a brooding forest, or raindrops on a window – can be enough when combined with the right layout. Try to think of one or two ideas from your book that can be communicated by a simple image. It won't tell readers everything about your book, but, hopefully, it will tell them enough. All you're going for is getting readers to pause a moment, think about your title, and click through to read your book's description. From there, you're back on the solid ground of working with words.

Finding Images – Public Domain Photos and Artwork

Once you've figured out what kinds of images you can use to communicate the core identity of your book, you'll need to find them. This is where the public domain is your friend. There are lots of photographs and works of art that have either been donated to the public domain by their authors or that are simply so old that they're no longer under copyright. Any photograph or work of art in the public domain is yours for the taking, free of charge, free to be used in any way. The trick, of course, is that good ones can be hard to find.

Generally, when I'm looking for public domain images, I simply start Googling "public domain image" or "public domain photo" or "public domain art" and see what pops up. There are a lot of sites out there that archive public domain imagery. In no particular order, here are some of the sites I've used:

http://karenswhimsy.com

http://pddepot.com

http://www.reusableart.com

http://www.burningwell.org

http://www.publicdomainpictures.net

http://www.public-domain-photos.com

A number of these sites will show you both public domain photos and photos with license fees. They're hoping that while looking for free stuff, you'll see something that you like better for a dollar and pay them the dollar. Generally, though, it's pretty easy to tell which are the free ones and which are the ones with license fees. The ones with license fees do tend to be more numerous and higher quality, but I try to ignore them. (From my perspective, the point of homemade cover art is that it's free.) Of course, you should always be careful to check the information that the site provides about any image that you want to use before using it. You don't want to mistakenly infringe upon someone's copyright.

Another good source of photographs is NASA. Almost all of their photographs are in the public domain. The government claims to have a lot of public domain photos as well, but I've had less luck with locating them.

Creating Images – Home Photography and Simple Drawings

Sometimes, after I've sifted through all the sources of public domain imagery that I can stand, I still haven't found the right image. In these cases, I have a choice: figure out a different image that can represent my story graphically, or try to create the image myself. Quite honestly, in most cases, it will be easier and more successful to simply re-imagine the cover art than to delve into the world of illustration without actually being an artist.

When creating a cover for my short story, "A Second Enchanted Evening," I spent a lot of time looking for art or photos of a man playing a guitar. When I couldn't find any that suited me, I knew that a human figure playing guitar was way out of my depth. So, instead of wasting my time trying to become an artist that I'll never be, I readjusted my sights and ended up using clip art of a record, superimposed on a photograph of many CDs, to represent the story. It was a less ambitious image, but it still communicated a key idea from the story – it's about music.

That said, there are cases where I've found it easier to create images from scratch than I'd expected. This is a situation where you need to learn your own limits. In general, it's easy enough to set up an artistic photograph of an object – if you own it. (Just use a lot of light, a simple backdrop, and keep taking pictures until it looks right.) So, if an object is easy to acquire, then you're set. If it's harder to acquire – like a dead mouse, which I needed for my story "The Necromouser" – then you'll need to figure out if it's simple enough for you to draw it.

In my case, it turns out that I can draw a dead mouse. There are many things, however, that I can't draw, so if I'm thinking about drawing an image for my cover art, I'll spend a little time doing simple sketches to see if the object is within my grasp. If the sketches look close enough to what I want, then I'll break out the felt pens and watercolors. I've tried colored pencils, but they tend to come out too light when I digitize the image. (I use my camera to photograph artwork, but I'm sure a scanner would work as well.) The best luck I've had has been with felt pen outlines, filled in with watercolors.

Everything I've tried in terms of adjusting the brightness and contrast of a piece of digital art suggests that it's much, much better to simply get the art right before digitizing it. So, any art that you create should have bright, bold colors. Otherwise, it won't show up well once digitized.

Also, it generally works best when I only try to paint one image at a time. I created one cover with a water colored spaceship in front of a planet, however I certainly wouldn't have had the skills necessary to do that entirely by hand. I painted the planet and spaceship separately, photographed each of them, and then combined the two images digitally. Which brings us to our next topic...

Isolating Images – Using an Image Editing Program

The ability to digitally isolate an image greatly increases your freedom when it comes to making cover art. It lets you place an image on the background of your choice; it lets you pick and choose which parts of an image you want; and it lets you combine separate images in a natural looking way. It is definitely a skill worth acquiring.

The first step, obviously, is to have a piece of image editing software, like Adobe Photoshop but preferably less expensive. I use Paint.NET. It's free to download online, and I've found it to be sufficient for my needs. (I've also heard good things about GIMP.)

Now, there are two main strategies for isolating – or cutting out, if you will – the part of an image that you want. (Unless the part you want has a simple shape – like a rectangle or ellipse – then you just Select it with the appropriately shaped tool, Crop to Selection, and skip ahead to the paragraph beginning in bold.)

If you're lucky, then there will be a clear delineation between the part that you want and the parts that you don't want (for instance, a photograph of a white coffee cup on a dark background). If there is a sharp, clear line between the piece of the image that you want and the parts that you don't want, then you can very likely use the Magic Wand tool. In Paint.NET, the Magic Wand is located in the tool bar. After selecting that tool, simply click on your picture. Depending on how clear the difference is between the part of the image you want and the part you don't want, you may have to try several different locations in the image, and it can help to adjust the "Tolerance" level, located in a percentage bar at the top of the program. Once the Magic Wand has successfully divided the picture up the way that you want, you simply press delete (if the Magic Wand has grabbed the background) or use the Image pulldown menu and Crop to Selection (if the Magic Wand has grabbed the desired image).

Unfortunately, there are a lot of images that the Magic Wand tool is simply not equipped to handle. For instance, if you want to cut out a single stemmed rose from a picture of a rose bush, then the Magic Wand is unlikely to be able to help. There are cases where I've used the Magic Wand to repeatedly select sections of background and delete them, eventually clearing the picture down to the central image I wanted. However, if you're dealing with a mess of green grass and leaves behind a green stem, just because a person can make out the difference between one specific rose stem and all the rest of the green doesn't mean that the Magic Wand can.

In these cases, you can resort to the more time consuming but highly effective method of drawing an outline around your desired object by hand. Paint.NET allows you to add different Layers to an image. This is important because, if you're going to start drawing an outline around part of your image, you don't want to worry about your hand slipping part way through and either destroying your image or causing you to lose all your work by forcing you to use Undo.

So, first, create a new Layer; move to that Layer; select a bright color that contrasts well with most of your picture; and then begin drawing. I like to use the Paintbrush tool with a fairly high brush width, and I like to zoom the picture in fairly close. How long this takes depends on how complex the image is and how precise you choose to be. This is one part of the process of making cover art that has not gotten faster with time for me. So, if at all possible, I try to use images that will be easy enough to cut out that the Magic Wand can do it for me. I always keep this in mind when taking my own photographs or making my own drawings for cover art. In fact, I find that it's often easier to actually cut out a watercolor drawing with scissors and photograph it on a stark white (or black, depending on the art) background. That way the Magic Wand tool can do this part of the work for me.

However, if you do get stuck drawing an outline on a different Layer by hand, then, once the outline is done, you'll be able to easily select that shape with the Magic Wand. (If you have trouble, try filling the outline with the Paint Bucket. If the Paint Bucket fills the whole image, then you have a hole in your outline. You'll need to find and fix the hole.) Once you've selected the shape that you want with the Magic Wand on the outline Layer, simply switch back to the original Layer and Crop to Selection. At that point, you can delete the extra Layer.

The final – and extremely important – step in this process is to save your isolated image in a file type that supports the blank space that you've worked so hard to create. If you save the image as a JPEG, then when you open it elsewhere it will be surrounded by an annoying white box. If you save the image as a PNG, then when you open it elsewhere it will be surrounded by a transparent box that won't interfere with the rest of your cover layout. So make sure to save your isolated image in a file format that supports transparency. I always use PNGs.

Of course, Paint.NET has other tools built in. I definitely recommend playing around a bit with the Adjustments and Effects pulldown menus. It's entertaining to see what the different effect can do to your image, and it doesn't take long to familiarize yourself with what's available. Besides, I've found a number of the effects to be useful when I have an image that I basically like, but I still want to tweak it a little.

The Layout – Using a Graphic Design Program

Now that we have all the artwork that we need, properly isolated, it's time to organize it on the page. This calls for a graphic design program, like Adobe Illustrator but, again, preferably less expensive. I use Inkscape. It's free to download online, and I've found it to be very effective.

The first step is to Import (in the File pulldown menu) all your images. (The ability of the layout file that you create to access those images later will depend on them staying in the same location on your computer, so it's a good idea to organize them all into a single folder.) Once you have all your images imported, it becomes a free-for-all. Your goal is to arrange them in an aesthetically pleasing way, and that basically involves moving them around, resizing them, reordering them, adding random boxes, and playing with fonts until you suddenly realize that you're looking at a book cover. There are a few tricks I've learned, however, to really make covers pop.

Basic Tools – Ctrl-Click, Simple Shapes, Color/Transparency, Order, and Text

If you have some familiarity with how to use a graphic design program, then you can probably skip this section. However, if you haven't used a graphic design program before, you will need to learn how to resize objects, create simple shapes, adjust their colors and transparency levels, and change the order of all those objects. A lot of that can be done by simply playing around with the different tools to see what they do, but I'll also walk you through the most important ideas here.

In most programs I've used, you can resize an object without affecting its dimensions by holding down Ctrl or Shift while dragging on the corner of the object with the mouse. In Inkscape, you hold down Ctrl. This is really important – it allows you to get the right relative sizes for your images without ending up with them looking strangely squashed. So, whenever you're resizing an image that should maintain its shape, make sure you're holding down Ctrl (or its equivalent, if you're not using Inkscape). I also recommend doing this while resizing text boxes. Most fonts are designed to look right with their original aspect ratio. So, while there are some cases where I'll decide to squish or stretch a font, I mostly find it's better to simply pick a different font if the one I'm using isn't tall enough or wide enough.

Even if you already have all your images picked out, there's a good chance that they'll look better if supplemented with a few appropriately placed shapes in the background. There are rectangle, ellipse, and perhaps some other shape tools available in a bar on the left-hand side of most graphic design programs. Simply select the shape tool that you're interested in, click somewhere on the screen, and drag.

Usually, the colors of those objects can be adjusted using a color bar along the bottom of the program. In Inkscape, you can open up a Fill and Stroke box (by double-clicking on the Fill color in the bottom left-hand corner) that will let you adjust the color of the fill and border around the shapes you make with more gradation. It will also let you adjust the width of the border (or Stroke), choose gradient fills (that fade from one color into another), and even adjust the transparency.

The order of objects can generally be controlled by selecting an individual object and then using Raise and Lower tools to move the object up or down relative to the other objects in your layout. (In Inkscape, these tools are accessible both as buttons on the toolbar at the top of the screen and included in the Object pulldown menu.)

In graphic design programs, text exists inside text boxes. These are created by selecting the appropriate tool (in Inkscape, it has a capital "A" on it and is on the left-hand toolbar), clicking somewhere, and then typing. The font, size, alignment, and style can then be adjusted using the tools in the toolbar across the top of the program or with the Text and Font box, found in the Text pulldown menu.

Working with Text – Fonts, Shadows, Colored Boxes

At its most basic, a book cover should be a book-shaped box with text inside it declaring the name of the book and the author. (See Figure 1) Sure, you'll want to incorporate the images you've gathered as well, but if you can't lay out the text and make it pop, then your cover won't look like the cover for a "real" book.

The exact shape of your book cover can have some flexibility. I find that most of mine have a ratio of approximately 1.5:1. However, if you have a really long title or an unusually shaped image that you want to accommodate, then you might want to make your cover a little wider or taller.

When I'm picking fonts, I try to reflect the tone of the story inside with the primary font. However, I find that covers have more visual interest when they use more than one text style, so it often works well to pick a second font that contrasts the style of the primary one. As you can see in Figure 1, I've used the same font for both the title and author, but I've added an extra piece of description in a secondary font. This is the basic format I use for all my covers.

Of course, you'll need to arrange these pieces of text so that they fit with whatever images you want to incorporate. That can be tricky, especially if you have a long title or a piece of background imagery that's high contrast. It may not be possible to completely separate your text from your images, so you need to make your text readable even with a complex piece of imagery behind it.

One way to make your text pop better is to give it a shadow. Simply copy your text box, change the color, and carefully place it behind the original – but not exactly behind the original. This can make your text stand out. Though, with some backgrounds, a shadow won't be enough.

If you're using a background that has a lot of different colors in it, then it can work really well to simply tone those colors down using a transparent box. In Figure 2, I've placed a box with a gradient from transparent (at the top) to black (at the bottom) over the stark white background from Figure 1. This box darkens up the bottom of the page so that a light colored font will stand out. A box with a gradient from transparent to white will make darker fonts stand out. And, of course, the black or white could be swapped out for a color that goes well with your background. If you don't want to affect so much of your background, I find it works well to use a small ellipse right under the text. If the ellipse is filled with a gradient that involves transparent edges, then it will fade into the rest of the background while making the text look like it's glowing. (See Figure 3)

The last and most bizarre tip I have for you is something I learned recently through random experimentation. I can't tell if I accidentally happened on a law of aesthetics or simply rediscovered a technique that real graphic designers use (and have thus popularized). Either way, I find that when I add a few random boxes to my nearly finished cover art, it will suddenly pop into focus. There's no way to know exactly what will work until you try it, so I recommend making a few boxes that match your cover's color scheme and moving them around. Maybe your cover will suddenly pop into focus too.

If you're interested in seeing examples of my homemade cover art, they're all available at my website: www.marylowd.com/cover-art.html. Best of luck!

Figure 1: Figure 2:

Figure 3: Figure 4:

About the Author

Valerie Estelle Frankel has won a Dream Realm Award, an Indie Excellence Award, and a USA Book News National Best Book Award for her Henry Potty parodies. She’s the author of five books on pop culture: From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey in Myth and Legend, Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey, Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in The Hunger Games, Teaching with Harry Potter, and Harry Potter: Still Recruiting. Once a lecturer at San Jose State University, she’s a frequent speaker on fantasy, myth, pop culture, and the heroine’s journey. Learn more at www.HarryPotterParody.com.

Discover other titles by Valerie Estelle Frankel at Smashwords.com:

Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games

Henry Potty and the Pet Rock: An Unauthorized Harry Potter Parody

And in Paperback:

Teaching with Harry Potter: Essays on Classroom Wizardry from Elementary School to College (McFarland, 2013)

Harry Potter, Still Recruiting: An Inner Look at Harry Potter Fandom (Zossima Press 2012)

Katniss the Cattail: An Unauthorized Guide to Names and Symbols in The Hunger Games (CreateSpace and Talents Publishing)

Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey (McFarland 2012)

From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey in Myth and Legend (McFarland 2010)

Henry Potty and the Pet Rock: The Special Edition (Northbound Press 2010)

Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage (Wingspan Press 2008)

Henry Potty and the Pet Rock: The Unauthorized Harry Potter Parody (Wingspan Press 2006)