BookBaby Partners with Writer’s Digest to Launch Blue Ash Publishing

BookBabyBookBaby, one of the country’s leading book self-publishing services, has entered a partnership with Writer’s Digest to launch a new self-publishing division named Blue Ash Publishing. The partnership appears to be ideal for aspiring authors because Writer’s Digest is a long-time publisher of educational materials for writers who want to polish their skills.

“Blue Ash Publishing authors are truly getting the best of both worlds in self-publishing,” said BookBaby President Steven Spatz. “In addition to the education resources of Writer’s Digest, authors will get the advantages of worldwide eBook distribution through BookBaby’s sales network, plus, inclusive access to a powerful suite of promotional tools through our BookPromo™ program. Authors also have the opportunity to print physical copies of their books.”

BookBaby is the sister company to CD Baby, the world’s largest online distributor of independent music. CD Baby has paid out over a quarter billion dollars to over 300,000 artists worldwide. The company applies these same services and powerful resources to the digital publishing world, to help independent authors and publishers accomplish their goals.

BookBaby offers the largest eBook distribution network of retailers, including Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and more, in over 170 countries around the globe.

“This new venture powered by BookBaby is grounded in what Writer’s Digest does best: educating writers,” said Writer’s Digest Publisher Phil Sexton. The Writer’s Digest community, founded in December 1920, provides information and inspiration for professional and aspiring writers, both traditionally published and self-published. Blue Ash Publishing takes its name from the editorial home of Writer’s Digest in Blue Ash, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati.

“Thanks to our creative collaboration with BookBaby, we are confident that Blue Ash Publishing can provide writers with the service and education that they need to succeed,” said Sexton.

What Authors Can Expect from Blue Ash Publishing

100% Net Earnings on All Sales: Blue Ash Publishing takes no commission on any book sales. Authors keep 100% of their book’s net earnings. Once retailers are paid their percentage, all remaining revenue goes back to the author. BookBaby offers the largest eBook distribution network, including Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and many other popular retailers in more than 170 countries around the globe.

Full Ownership: Unlike other programs, Blue Ash authors own their work, including all electronic files and cover art. Authors retain the rights to their work and maintain total creative control. Writers customize their publishing package, to fit their needs and their budget.

Exclusive Education Programs: Every package includes an educational element. Basic packages include a weekly newsletter written by publishing experts that provides tips for building a platform and selling books. Higher-value packages include: access to WritersMarket.com, a digital subscription to Writer’s Digest magazine, a year-long subscription to Writer’s Digest online tutorials, a live half hour consultation with a platform specialist, and more.

Promotional Tools: These educational programs, exclusive only to Blue Ash Publishing, are in addition to the benefits BookBaby builds into each package, including a suite of promotional tools that are designed to help authors get their books into the hands of readers.

LINKS

Blue Ash Publishing

Writer’s Digest

Bookbaby

 

Bookbaby Offers Free Guide on Printed Book Design

CoverPrintedBookDesign101WRITERS. Before self-publishing a printed book, check out Bookbaby’s  free guide: “Printed Book Design 101: How to Turn Your Manuscript into a Retail-Ready Printed Book.”

Written by self-publishing expert Joel Friedlander, the guide emphasizes that even if you publish e-books, you may still need some physical copies of your book to sell at readings or other events to give to family, friends, or reviewers. Plus, many people still prefer reading books in printed form.

Even if you plan to outsource the cover design and interior page design, you must know how to instruct the designers and evaluate their work.

Professional-looking printed books are far more complex to prepare than e-books, says Friedlander.. Some details to consider when preparing a book for print are fonts, margins, design templates, and printer specifications.

In Printed Book Design 101, Friedlander walks you through the whole process. He explains how to:

  • Pick the perfect typeface
  • Use book-interior-design principles to enhance the readability of your book
  • Catch the reader’s eye with a well-designed cover

The guide lists common components of a printed book and suggests how to avoid some of the most common mistakes self-published authors typically make.

“It’s very important to make sure you book is put together properly,” writes Friedlander. “Influential people you may be relying on for your book’s success — such as bookstore buyers, reviewers, award committees, agents, and others — are going to notice whether your book conforms to the standard book–trade practices.”

Friedlander is the author of the “A Self-Publisher’s Companion — Expert Advice for Authors Who Want To Publish” and publishes a blog on on his own website TheBookDesigner.com.

Bookbaby offers a wide range of editing, cover design, ebook conversion, book printing, distribution, and website services for self-published authors. The company’s P&E (printed and ebook) Package provide a $100 discount when you add an ebook to your order for printed books.

LINKS

About Bookbaby

Bookbaby: Printed and E-Book Packages

Free Guide: Printed Book Design 101

Joel Friedlander: The Book Designer

A Self-Publisher’s Companion

Gift Idea: A Gift Certificate for Self-Publishing Services

OutskirtsPressGiftCertificateOutskirts Press now offers Instant Self-Publishing Gift Certificates. The gift certificates enable thoughtful gift-givers to help the aspiring authors in their lives purchase publishing, writing, marketing and other services offered by Outskirts Press. Offered in $99 units, the instant gift certificate can be purchased securely at the Outskirts Press online store and instantly credited to the writer’s Publishing Center account.

Once the buyer adds the Instant Self-Publishing Gift Certificate to his cart, Outskirts Press will contact the buyer to find out who the special author is and gather any special messaging the buyer wishes to include on the gift notification. If the writer is already registered and/or published with Outskirts Press, the $99 will be instantly credited to the existing Publishing Center account.

If the writer isn’t yet registered, Outskirts Press will create a free Publishing Center account for him or her and credit the $99 gift to the new account. Once the credit has been applied to the writer’s account, Outskirts Press will notify him or her via email of the special gift using the messaging provided.

An Outskirts Press Instant Self-Publishing Gift Certificate can be given for any special occasion, including birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or appreciation events. Certificates can also be presented to congratulate an author for completing a new manuscript.

Outskirts Press provides self-publishing and book marketing services for writers who want a cost-effective, fast, and flexible way to publish and distribute their books worldwide. Authors who publish through Outskirts Press retain 100 percent of their rights, 100 percent of their profits, and 100 percent of the creative control.

LINKS

Instant Self-Publishing Gift Certificate

Outskirts Press

 

BookBaby Clients Get Discounts on Professional Editing

WRITERS.  As an avid reader (and self-publishing supporter), I still notice a distinct difference in quality between a book from a traditional publisher and a self-published book by a first-time author. From the opening sentence to the closing paragraphs books from traditional publishers seem more polished, coherent, and emotionally engaging.

As an experienced editor myself, I attribute this obvious difference in readability to the unseen hand of an editing pro. Many self-published authors don’t understand that editing involves much more than correcting grammar, spelling, and typos. Even if your English-teacher friend agrees to look over your manuscript before you publish it, you probably won’t get the type of book-editing expertise you need to increase the odds that your book will succeed, both in terms of sales and positive reviews.

To make professional editing services more affordable and accessible, BookBaby has teamed up with FirstEditing, a global firm with more than 30 professional editors. Since 1994, FirstEditing has collaborated with authors around the world on over 250,000 manuscripts—offering technical editing, developmental editing, reduction editing, and proofreading.  BookBaby clients can now receive a 17% discount on any of the editing services offered by FirstEditing.

“Editing can make all the difference,” says BookBaby president Brian Felsen. “Will your book connect emotionally with readers and keep them turning the pages? Or will it fall flat?” He notes that while independent authors like being able to design, publish, distribute, and promote their own books, “It’s been difficult for authors to get a reputable editor to look at their manuscripts if they don’t have connections or a big budget.”

BookBaby Logo“The copy editor with whom I worked was insightful, professional, meticulous, and just plain good,” says BookBaby author Shelly Reuben, whose books have been nominated for Edgar, Prometheus, and Falcon awards. “He was in tune with the style and theme of my book, and while not trying to impose his own sensibility, was able to point out places where I had undermined the writing by being repetitious or stylistically inconsistent.“

If you have doubts about the value of the editing process, FirstEditing will edit a sample from your manuscript for free—and within 24 hours!

“I’m thrilled about this partnership,” says Felsen. “FirstEditing’s prices are already among the lowest quotes in the business for such top-rate service. Now, BookBaby authors will get an additional 17% off, allowing them to get their book edited in less than two weeks, without having to blow through their production or marketing budgets before the book even comes out!”

LINKS

Book Editing Services from BookBaby and FirstEditing

About BookBaby

About First Editing

 

E-Book Publisher Offers Manuscript-to-Marketing Package

Your Ebook Team LogoWRITERS. Your Ebook Team, a new partnership of highly experienced professionals, has created a fresh approach to book publishing that offers writers a “total package” from manuscript to marketing.

Combining decades of experience in editing, design, and marketing, Your Ebook Team supports authors in turning their manuscripts into high-quality books that reach their broadest target audience. The company takes a highly personalized approach in working with authors, and offers a package designed to take the mystery and frustration out of publishing a manuscript.

Your Ebook Team publisher Scott Gerber believes that “At this point in the industry, writers have few good choices. The conventional publishing houses are taking fewer and fewer books, and the writer who wants to self-publish is met with the daunting task of working with a confusing jumble of service providers, many of whom lack the skills and experience of Your Ebook Team.”

In addition to a collaborative, one-on-one relationship with every author, Your Ebook Team’s total package includes:

  • professional editing and proofreading
  • top-notch cover design and book layout
  • publication in both print and e-book formats
  • distribution through the major online retailers
  • social media marketing support that includes a web domain, blog, and Facebook page, and more.

“I have had a high-caliber experience every step of the way,” says Elaine Leeder, Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University, who published her book “My Life with Lifers” with Your Ebook Team. “This is my fifth book, and this is the best publisher I have ever worked with.”

The total publishing package offered by Your Ebook Team also provides a unique revenue structure that offers authors the opportunity to earn back every dollar of their up-front fees through initial book sales.

“We know it’s sometimes hard for writers to take that first step in publishing their manuscripts, so we make it easier by arranging for them to keep all sales revenue until their initial investment is recouped,” says Gerber.

Wally Gordon, a magazine and newspaper writer for half a century and author of “A Reporter’s World,” praises the “conscientious and careful editing” his book received with Your Ebook Team’s chief editor, Marty Gerber.

“To collaborate with writers—to help them find their voice, hone their message, and tell their tale—is a challenge I love,” says Marty Gerber, who has worked for decades as a writer, editor, and publisher within a broad range of books, magazines, and major newspapers.

Sarah Lovett, writing coach and author of more than 30 novels and children’s books, calls Marty “a writer’s best friend —a wise, honest, and market-savvy editor.”

Books published by Your Ebook Team are available for sale on the company’s book marketing site in addition to Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Each book gets its own top-level web page, which includes an author blog and bio, a description and preview of the book, reviews, YouTube video, and links to buy the book.

LINKS

Your Ebook Team

 

Learn How to Convert Your E-Books into Audio Books

WRITERS. If you want to convert your e-book into an audio book, check out the resources available through eBookIt!

Since 2010, eBookIt! has helped thousands of authors and publishers get their books converted to e-book format and distributed to all the major e-book retailers (such as Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Apple iBookstore, Kobo, Sony Readerstore, Ingram Digital, and Google eBookstore).

Now, eBookIt! is helping authors further expand their audiences by converting e-books into audio books.

Offering audio books enables you to share the information in your book with people with visual impairments and those who like listening to audio books while driving, working out, walking the dog, or doing other activities.

On the eBookIt! blog, company founder Bo Bennett notes that audio books have become increasingly popular, particularly with the proliferation of iPhones and other mobile devices: “We all have different learning styles, and we all differ in how we like to spend our downtime. Some of us read, some of us watch, and some of us listen.”

For $119, eBookIt! can use your converted e-book file to create an MP3 audio file with a computer-generated voice. You can choose to have your books read by a human-sounding American male voice (Paul), an American female voice (Julie), or a British female voice (Brigitte).  (You can hear what Paul, Julie, and Brigitte sound like on the eBookIt website.)

“While I don’t think a computer-generated voice can replace a talented actor anytime soon, it is an ideal solution for the vast majority of authors who do want their books available in audio and can afford a $119 investment,” says Bennett.

If you choose to distribute the MP3 file on your own website, you can keep 100% of the proceeds.

The  eBookIt! website also explains options for human-narrated audio-book creation as well as distribution through iTunes, Amazon.com, and Amazon’s audio-book distributor Audible.com.

For example, if you want to try creating your own audio book file, the eBookIt! blog includes instructions on how to go about it. With the right technology, you don’t have to spend thousand dollars on talent, studio time, and editing. If you have a pleasant-sounding voice, a decent microphone, and free or low-cost software (such as Audacity or Apple’s GarageBand) you can create a reasonably high-quality audio book. Just be prepared to spend some time doing it.

“Even if you are really good at reading, and make very few mistakes, expect to spend about one hour per every 10 minutes of finished audio. This includes proofing, editing, and saving,” writes Bennett in a blog post. He says it took about 38 hours to make an audio book that has a running time of 8 hours.

LINKS

eBookIt!

Audio Book Distribution Services

Blog Post: Audio Books: Are They Worth Making?

Blog Post: Creating a Human-Narrated Audio Book