We asked our clients to share their self-publishing journey and provide suggestions for new authors.

Author: Jean Ciborowski Fahey, PhD
Book: Make Time for Reading: a Story Guide for Parents of Babies and Young Children

Website: http://www.readingfarm.net/

Please tell us a little about yourself and what prompted you to write a book:

For 15 years I worked at a Harvard teaching hospital on multidisciplinary teams that evaluated reading difficulties in children. At the end of every staff meeting, our Chief of Pediatrics read us a children’s story. We filed out to resume our work with children,  often inspired and surprisingly soothed. As my career stretched into consulting work I became intrigued with the idea of using stories to teach parents of young children. I wanted parents to know the profound impact they have on their child’s developing reading brain. I was interested in all parents but especially those learning to read or learning English. I knew how to write parent information, time lines and tips. But what moved parents to new action, I observed,  was story. So I set out to write a picture book, a once upon a time story … for parents … about how one family and 1 community raised a little girl to be ready to read. The book is called “Make Time for Reading: a Story Guide for Parents of Babies and Young Children.”

Please tell us a little about your book:

“Make Time for Reading” is a picture book written to help parents and people who work with parents prepare babies and young children for reading and school success.  The book takes only minutes to read yet it is packed with useful information to attract parents of all educational and cultural backgrounds. The book uses art and story to translate the science of how the young brain ‘gets wired’  to learn to read. Its central message is the profound difference parents can make on the earliest development of their child’s reading brain.   The book is two books in one;   1) a story that chronicles the life of a little girl’s journey to literacy; and 2) literacy practices, games and activities that parents and teachers can begin to do immediately with  babies, toddlers and preschoolers.  It is beautifully illustrated by Peter J. Thornton, designed by Elizabeth DiPalma of Design+ and printed at Universal Wilde in Westwood, Mass. It is printed in both hard and shot cover.

How long did it take you to finish your book?

The book was developed over 10 years. Each time I presented at a national, state or local educational conference, literacy event, workshop or seminar I showed the manuscript of the story on a power point slide show… each page on its own slide. Volunteers in the room took turns reading the 6-minute story aloud. After each and every presentation, I used the audience feedback to improve upon the book.  I was thrilled with the reaction to the book and the requests for copies. No matter how wonderful the book evaluations,  21 publishers rejected the manuscript.   A children’s book for grown-ups? This called for self-publsihing.

Do you offer your book as an ebook? No

What has been the most challenging aspect of self-publishing and what suggestions would you give to a new author?

The most challenging aspect of self-publishing was the money! When I was sure I was committed to the book, I raised almost $10K on Indiegogo.com, a crowd funding web site.  The money allowed me to pay my illustrator, designer, printer and attorney (who drew up contracts for my illustrator). The fund raising campaign also gave me a base of support.  In return for a financial contribution,  each investor received a copy of the book. The unsolicited book reviews poured in – each review distinct, original and web site ready! New authors, in my opinion, must prepare a financial and publishing strategy with a great team of trusted friends and colleagues. On this team is one person who will have your permission to push and push until you accomplish what you set out to do!  Without my team my book would never have happened. They continue to help spread the word of my book, my web site, hold me accountable for what I said I would do and push me, of course,  to write the next book.

We asked our clients to share their self-publishing journey and provide suggestions for new authors.

Author: Christopher C Wilson
Book: WIN

Please tell us a little about yourself and what prompted you to write a book:

I’m a 38 year old Fitness instructor that works out of North Scottsdale, Az. I had done illegal steroids for 3 years and wound up with no testosterone production after I got off of them. I struggled to build my body back but couldn’t do it until Dr. Harold Reeder introduced me to bio identical hormone therapy. Once my testosterone level was up to where it should be I’ve been able to stay lean with lots of muscle and won two trophies in the Men’s Physique category beating out my steroidal opponents. I’m proof that it can be done as well as proof there are permanent damages that can result from steroid use. My book is designed to keep youth off of steroids and for adults, to build your body to last!

Please tell us a little about your book:

My book is my personal testimony that steroids can damage your body and shut down your body’s natural production of testosterone. Through natural bio-identical hormone therapy you can get your body back as well as improve energy, focus, fat loss, depression reduction, and sleep improvements. Along with my experience competing in bodybuilding shows, diet and cardio tips, and how to pick a trainer.

How long did it take you to finish your book? 5 years

Do you offer your book as an ebook? Yes

What has been the most challenging aspect of self-publishing and what suggestions would you give to a new author?

Staying focused to finish the process. It costs a good amount of money and consumes a lot of time. My advice is to never give up. Never stop until your message is delivered to your readers!

A growing percentage of our clients are offering their books in both printed and digital (ebook) formats to maximize their market exposure. Now that ebooks have become established as a popular format, we can now see common trends digital book sales.  Although the subject matter and the overall content quality of the book are critical factors to success, there are a few simple tips which can sell more ebooks.

• Keep Book Titles Short –  Shorter titles are easier to remember and have historically performed better in digital book marketplaces. Smashwords provided data to show the top 100 sellers had an average title of 4.2 words.  Lower ranking (by sales) books had titles which averaged 6 words.

• Revise Cover Art for Online Viewing– An entire article can be written on the merits of eye-catching cover design. When it comes to digital books, a hard to view cover will drive potential customers away. It is important to make sure all the wording and graphics are large enough to be read on varying screens.   In addition, the file format used for ebook marketplaces should be optimized for online viewing.  A .eps file format is perfect for yielding high quality PRINTED books , but will not always render clear on a monitor. File formats such as .png, gif or .jpg work better online.

• Lower Price eBooks Sell More   > $3.99 appears to be the magic number  – With the exception of FREE ebooks, recent data from Smashwords indicate the $3.99 price point currently yields the highest number of ebooks sold (on average).   This is welcome news for those authors contemplating to drop their price down to $1.99 as a strategy to spur demand.  The report also illustrated authors’ total income was 55% above the average compared to all other non-free price points.

• Stay Independent– I know we sound like a broken record, but there is NO reason to neither pay upfront money nor share royalties with an eBook publishers company.  Selling direct via Kindle, Smashwords, and iBookstore will maximize your profits and offer you the greatest control.  To quote Robert Heinlein, “There‘s no such thing as free lunch.”  If an offer from online ebook publisher sounds too good to be true, it isn’t.   As we found out during tax season, some of the popular eBook publishing companies are not equipped to report royalties for tax preparation.   Do it yourself!

The Difference Between an ISBN and Barcode

A necessary requirement for selling physical books through booksellers, wholesalers, and distributors is the assignment of unique ISBN numbers for each title and a corresponding barcode symbol on the back cover ISBN identification is a global standard to uniquely identify individual titles and formats.  Proper identification yields benefits efficient payment and supply chain processing.  Each country has a designated ISBN agency to manage assignments and promote the standards. Publisher Services is an authorized agent of the US ISBN agency www. isbn-us.com.

Physical books (paperback, hardcover, etc.) require a barcode rendition of the ISBN assignment to allow the book to be tracked though the supply chain and point-of-sale.  In order for booksellers to automatically capture an ISBN, it must be converted into a scannable barcode. The Bookland EAN symbol is the barcode of choice in the book industry worldwide, because it allows for encodation of ISBN’s.

Larger book retailers, as well as many book wholesalers, require that the books they handle be marked with the Bookland EAN barcode. With this machine-readable code on the book, the retailer can scan the symbol and identify the book easily and electronically by its ISBN. When a retail clerk scans the Bookland EAN barcode at the point of sale, the barcode identifies the book so that the price and other information about the book can be retrieved from the bookseller’s database. The computer then automatically reports the price to the cash register and the book buyer pays the correct price for the book.

Bookland EAN Barcodes

In the United States, most retail products are marked with a UPC symbol. The corresponding barcode symbol in use in every other country aside from the United States is the European Article Number (EAN). Every EAN begins with a 2 or 3 digit prefix, which indicates the country of origin. EAN’s for companies registered in France, for example, might begin with the prefix 34; Japan’s prefix is 49. Since the book industry produces so many products, it has been designated as a country unto itself and has been assigned its own EAN prefix. That prefix is 978 and it signifies Bookland, that wonderful, fictitious country from where all books come.

An EAN which begins with the Bookland prefix 978 is called a Bookland EAN code and is used on books and book related products internationally. The Bookland symbol is the barcode of choice in the book industry because it allows for encodation of ISBNs (the numbers publishers use to identify their products).

Two Barcodes in One

The Bookland EAN barcode is actually two barcodes side by side. The larger barcode to the left is the EAN derived from the ISBN. The smaller barcode to the right is a 5-digit add-on where various information might be encoded. Most often the add-on is used to encode the retail price of the publication. A Bookland EAN code which has the price encoded in the add-on is called an EAN/5. It gets its name from the first digit of the add-on, which is the currency indicator. Five is the designation for U.S. dollars. An add-on of 51095 encodes the price $10.95. A book priced at $3.00 would have the add-on 50300. For books with prices above $99.00, there are specific coding guidelines. (Click here for information)

The larger book retailers prefer the use of EAN/5. When the publisher chooses not to include the price, however, the add-on is 90000 (EAN/9), which is a null code indicating that there is no data encoded. Scanners in bookstores In the U.S. cannot read the Bookland EAN code without its 5-digit add-on. Thus, the use of either the EAN/5 or the EAN/9 is required. There has been a dramatic increase in the usage of Bookland EAN symbols, since companies are investing millions of dollars in computer systems and scanning equipment to take advantage of automatic data collection. The foundation of these systems is contingent on barcode print quality. When symbols can not be read or decode incorrectly, the efficiency of these systems is brought to a halt. Consequently, many retailers and wholesalers are severely penalizing consumer goods manufacturers who furnish substandard symbols.

One of the main publishing services our company offers is book printing. Before a manuscript can become a book, it needs to go through a process called pre-production.  In this process we assess the author’s files to make sure that they meet a variety of criteria including correct dimensions, sufficient margin space, pagination, spine width, etc. This is a complimentary service which sets us apart from the bigger book printers that dominate the market.

However, before we can even get to pre-production, first we need to retrieve the author’s manuscript files. This has proven to be a challenge for some, as files exceeding 10 MB typically cannot be transferred through email. If your files are less than 10 MB you may email them to me directly at Gordan@barcode-us.com, but if they are larger files then we recommend that you use a file transferring service instead.

If your computer experience is limited and/or if you just want a QUICK solution, I recommend www.transferbigfiles.com. This is a free service which allows you to upload your files and email them regardless of file size. The limitation of this service is that the file will expire within 10 days.

If you’ve found yourself in this situation before and you would like a more robust solution, I recommend Dropbox.com.  Dropbox is a cloud based service which allows you to upload numerous large files to their servers and access them any time, from any computer, and anywhere in the world. As the pre-production specialist here at Publisher Services, I rely on my Dropbox every day as a simple and dependable way of sending and retrieving large files. Oh and did I mention that its free?

By Gordan K