Making PDF documents on a budget

These days it’s fairly easy for authors to self-publish a book without buying any special software. Book page layout is a no-brainer with Microsoft Word.

But printers will want a PDF file of the book, especially for Print-on-Demand (POD) jobs. Fortunately for authors on a limited budget, PDF files can be produced now without spending $200 or more for Adobe’s Acrobat software. Adobe’s PDF (Portable Document Format) is an open standard, so several software makers have come up with applications to convert any document to PDF.

Recently I tested five free PDF converters, and the easiest to install and use was PDF995, which allows creation of PDF files with advanced features. Ebook publishers can also benefit from three features not available to Acrobat users: automated security, text summarization, and PDF to HTML conversion. Using PDF995 generates a pop-up advertisement, which can be disabled by paying a modest $19.95 licensing fee.

Even when printers don’t require it, a PDF enables self-publishers to easily publish an e-book version of their book or sample chapters available for immediate download.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Google unveils screen shots of Library program

Google complains that its controversial Library program has suffered from "mischaracterizations" in the press and sent an e-mail to shore up support among publishers .

"The goal of the Google Print Library Project is to create an electronic, full-text card catalog of books, just as we've done with Web pages," the search firm said in a Sept. 27 e-mail. "Our goal is to help people discover books online, not read them online; a user who finds a copyrighted books that was scanned through the Library Project can't view even a single page from this book, unless the copyright holder has given us explicit permission through the Publisher Program to show more."

The Google Library program has been criticized by self-publishers and others as enabling copyright infringement by allowing Web searchers to view entire pages of books. But in yesterday's message, Google said it would show no more than three examples of where the user's search term appears in the book's text, along with bibliographic information and links to Internet booksellers and libraries.

Google also revealed a screenshot of what the search result from a scanned, in-copyright book will appear like.

And Google emphasized that publishers can ask to have their books excluded from the Library program by following these instructions.

But some critics of the program complain that Google will be displaying full pages of books scanned from libraries in some cases.

In a separate Sept. 27 message, Google asked publishers who attended the London Book Fair or Book Expo America and left copies of books with Google for the Print program, that Google still needs book lists in order to process the titles.

Google has posted more information about the Library project on its blog.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Lulu hits sell about 1 per month on Amazon

This week's top-selling books published by Lulu.com sell at a rate of about one per month on Amazon.com.

This week's top sellers include several downloadable books in PDF format and a few books without ISBNs. The top 10 sellers with ISBNs have an average Amazon sales rank of just over 475,000. That translates into sales of perhaps one per month on Amazon for each title, according to an analysis by Foner Books. Lulu also sells direct to consumers on its Web site and those sales aren't reflected in the Amazon sales ranks.

Lulu, a big advertiser on the Internet, calls itself "the world's fastest growing source of print-on-demand books." It was founded by Bob Young, who previously co-founded Red Hat, the open source software company.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Expert sees no harm in Google Library project

Google’s controversial program to scan copyrighted books and make their pages available in its search results probably won't cause piracy, but instead will lead to increased book sales, according to a leading legal analyst.

The Print Library Project promises to make it easier for Web users to find nuggets of information inside books, said Jonathan Band, an intellectual property attorney.

Google maintains that the program will directly benefit publishers and authors by increasing public exposure of participating books. The search firm recently said it would delay the scanning of copyrighted books until November so that publishers would have a chance to pull their copyrighted works from the project.

The Authors Guild recently filed a class action lawsuit against Google, alleging that its scanning and indexing of library books amounts to "massive" copyright infringement.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Amazon phone numbers and e-mails revealed

When Amazon opened shop a decade ago, it encouraged customers to phone in their orders. It was a good idea at the time, because many folks were leery of putting their credit card number online.

Today, the e-commerce king is cutting costs wherever it can. Like other companies, Amazon has found that it can shave call-center expenses by not publishing its phone or e-mail addresses. But what happens if you have a problem, and a canned response isn't enough?

Several of the now-secret contact numbers and e-mails were recently disclosed in a self-publishing newsletter:
Amazon Corporate Headquarters: 1-206-622-2335, 1-206-266-1000
Amazon Legal department: Fax: 1-206-266-7010
Amazon Seller Support: 1-877-251-0696
Customer Service, 1-800-201-7575, 1-206-346-2992
E-mail contacts: orders@amazon.com
resolution@amazon.com
charge-inquiries@amazon.com
stop-spoofing@amazon.com
reports@amazon.com
community-help@amazon.com (to report malicious reviews).

Thanks to Para Publishing for making the list public in its most recent "Publishing Poynters" newsletter. Free subscriptions to the newsletter are available here.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

A well-kept secret: How to buy only one ISBN

A stumbling block for new self-publishing authors is the idea of shelling out $225 for an ISBN. It is mandatory to have an ISBN for your self-published book, at least if you want bookstores and libraries to order it.

And there's only one place to get ISBNs: through RR Bowker LLC on their Web site or through the mail. The advertised fee is $225 for a block of 10 ISBNs, $800 for a block of 100, $1,200 for a block of 1,000, and $3,000 for a block of 10,000. Priority two-day turnaround is available for a hefty additional fee.

But what Bowker doesn't advertise is that if you call them at 877-310-7333 they will mail or fax you an application for only one ISBN costing just $125. Since a block of 10 costs just $100 more, it may be the wiser option if you plan to publish another book. Also you'll need new ISBNs for any subsquent editions of your book or additional formats such as e-book or audio. Another disadvantage of buying single ISBNs: They don't come with a unique publisher prefix, which is the second through seventh digits.

The ISBN (International Standard Book Numbers) is a series of ten digits used, along with a corresponding barcode, to identify a book or a certain edition of a book. Because the 10-digit ISBNs are being depleted, the format is due for expansion to 13 digits beginning in 2007.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Authorhouse gets worst rating in new book

Subsidy press Authorhouse is worst among the major print-on-demand (POD) presses based on how fairly its contracts treat authors, according to a new book, The Fine Print: What Print-on-Demand and e-Publishing Contracts Really Say.

Authorhouse received a rating of 2 out of 10 in the book. “They were the lowest because their contract was terrible, [and] their upfront fees were ridiculous for what you get,” said self-publishing author Mark Levine.

iUniverse received the best rating, 8.9, and Xlibris was in the middle of the pack at 4.6. One other major subsidy house, PublishAmerica, didn’t receive a rating because not enough information was available, Levine said. In all, 74 subsidy or vanity presses are described in the book, which is available in electronic format here. By educating themselves about POD contracts, authors can increase the royalties they receive for their work by up to 600 percent, Levine said.

The book explains how contract language can work against authors, said Levine, an attorney. Alternative language is included in the book, so authors can ask that it be inserted into their POD contacts.

Levine was recently interviewed on Publishing Basics radio by host Ron Pramschuffer. The complete interview is available here.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Google advances self-publishing plan with blog search

The Internet search firm Google launched a blog-searching tool today. The move underscores Google's commitment to the self-publishing revolution and its determination to unseat Yahoo! as the Web's central information hub.

The search tool can be accessed at Blogsearch.google.com and Search.blogger.com or from the navigation bar of Blogger blogs. Searches from the Blogger Navbar can make use of two additional buttons: one enables text searching within the blog currently being viewed, and the other initiates a search of all blogs indexed by Google.

Two years ago Google acquired Pyra Labs, maker of the Blogger online tool. The new search service will attempt to provide continuous real-time searching of all blogs on the Web, providing real-time commentary on breaking news. The search, being launched in beta mode today, will index any blog that publishes a feed in RSS or Atom.

More details of the new tool are available in the FAQ.

Google is also developing a related feature allowing bloggers who publish site feeds to ask to be included in Google's search index. Meanwhile, Yahoo is reportedly developing its own blog-searching tool.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Print on demand gets bad rap, Lightning Source chief says

Although print-on-demand is shaping up as perhaps the best printing model for self-publishing, POD has a stigma because the term is being hijacked by vanity and subsidy publishers.

POD is a publishing method, not a publishing or distribution method, says Ron Pramschufer of RJ Communications. With the POD model, books can be printed in small quantities to exactly match demand. This could enable self-publishers to serve the market efficiently with niche books, and at the same time bigger publishers could avoid having to declare their older books "out of print" after initial sales slack off.

“Anyone can print one at a time, the question is, can you scale it, can you do it efficiently,” said J. Kirby Best, president and chief executive of Lightning Source, the POD unit of Ingram, the book wholesaler. “The bottom line is, can you make money on it.” He was interviewed recently on Pramschufer’s online radio program Publishing Basics Radio and the full interview is available here.

With POD, only an electronic file needs to be maintained until another order for the book is received. Publishers can eliminate costs of warehousing and tying up cash in physical inventory.

POD's downside is that per-book printing costs are higher than for books printed in larger quantities on offset presses. So POD books generally aren’t returnable and bookstores resist stocking them. There’s also a misperception among some retailers that POD books aren’t top quality. But Best notes that POD paper, bindings and covers are equal to offset books. The only difference is that the text resolution is slightly lower wiht POD books, but you need a magnifying glass to tell the difference, he said.

Because bookstore chains won't carry them, Amazon.com has been a big sales outlet for POD books. Earlier this year Amazon.com acquired its own POD company, BookSurge. There has been some speculation that in the future, Amazon may lean on small publishers to use BookSurge in order to have copies listed for sale on Amazon.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Yahoo hosts active self-publishing groups

Yahoo has a trio of active self-publishing discussion groups. Thanks to Morris Rosenthal for compiling this list on his Self-Publishing Blog.

The Self-Publishing list is sponsored by the trade association SPAN. Posts are moderated by Marilyn and Tom Ross, and membership is open. The list has about 2,000 members.

The Print-On-Demand group welcomes comments from self-publishing authors and doesn't require pre-approval for posts. Membership is about 800.

The Print on Demand Publishers group hosts comments from self-publishers and small publishers who use print-on-demand technology.

Rosenthal also hosts a hugely informative Web site for his self-publishing company, Foner Books.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Can someone steal your book idea?

Newcomers to self publishing often avoid talking about their book idea. "What if someone steals my book idea?" There's nothing to stop that from happening. Ideas and facts aren't protected under the copyright law.

But an original expression of your idea -- a book or other recording -- is automatically covered by copyright law, notes editorial consultant Harold Underdown. "There are very few original ideas," he says. "It's what you do with these ideas that matters."

Actually, a publisher has little to gain and a lot to lose by stealing your idea, Underdown says. The company's most valuable asset, its reputation, would suffer.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Four keys to finding a reputable subsidy press

Self-publishing is a hot industry. With the advent of digital printing and online technology, dozens of new subsidy presses have sprung up. Many offer reasonable-sounding packages covering editing, proofreading, design, marketing, fulfillment. Do a Google search on "self publishing" and you'll see them: Outskirts Press. AuthorHouse. BookSurge. iUnivese. Xlibris. PublishAmerica. Every day its seems there's a few more.

But how do you know these companies will do a good job? Are they any better than the shady vanity presses of years gone by?

Here's what to look for:

• References. Sounds obvious, but unless you've done business with a company before, this is the best way to find the bad apples. Any reputable firm will be happy to supply you with several references. Call the references. Ask what the company's strengths and weaknesses are. Were all the promises kept?
  
• Investigate previous products. What books has the company helped publish? Are they on the major bookselling Web sites such as Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble? If so, is the cover art and book description displayed properly? What are the sales ranks? Order a couple of the books through a third party, and inspect them closely.
• Does the publisher have a distributor? Is there a relationship with a distributor such as Ingram or Baker & Taylor so your book will be available online and in stores? If their answer is yes, verify the claim.
• Resist high pressure. A shady firm will try to get you to agree to a plan quickly, before you change your mind. If the publisher says that a certain offer is good "for a limited time only," that's a bad sign.

A great source of information on the topic is Writer Beware, maintained by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Get started! Finding your audience

Think of your book as a business. Your customers are your readers. Your key to success is identifying who your readers are and how you will reach them.

Writing the book is just the start. You'll need to be the number-one promoter of your book, and the marketing of any successful book continues long after it's published, notes Scott Allen in a new post on About.com.

Even before your first draft, market research is key. Answer these questions:

• Who is your target market? Who will buy the book? "Everyone in the U.S.A." is not a realistic answer. " More realistic is: "People in the U.S.A. who collect stamps." Or: "Recent college graduates who are starting their own business."
• Where is your audience and how can you reach them? What stores do they shop in? What movies do they watch? What blogs do they read? You must have a way to promote the book through one of these channels, so your target market can discover your book.
• What new can you offer? It's hard to say when the market for a book has been saturated. Good competing titles can both do well if the product is good. But focus on how can you make your book a cut above the rest.
• Study your competition. What books are competing for your readers? Run a keyword search on Amazon.com and find every book available on the topic. Research the sales ranking of each book. Read them all, and decide what you like and don't like about each. How can you make yours better?
  
• What is your marketing plan? Since you're self-publishing, nobody is going to force you do this. But whether you enjoy selling or not, to move your book, you'll need a marketing plan. Press releases, radio interviews, and direct mail (if the book is priced high enough) are possibilities.

New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)

Must-Reads for Self Publishers

My updated list of must-read books for self-publishers:


The Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print,
and Sell Your Own Book by Dan Poynter.
How to Get Happily Published by Judith Appelbaum
1001 Ways to Market Your Books for Authors and
Publishers by John Kremer.
The Writer's Guide to Book Editors, Publishers, a
nd Literary Agents by Jeff Herman.
Publicize Your Book: An Insider's Guide to Getting
Your Book the Attention It Deserves by Judith Appelbaum.

Poynter Pitches New Self-Publishing Concept for Children's Book Market

Self-publishing guru Dan Poynter has a new idea for self publishers who want to enter the illustrated children's book market: Getting started by drafting your book in Microsoft PowerPoint.

The key is getting started and keeping your costs down in the beginning, Poynter says. The entire radio interview is available here.

Poynter is a leading authority on book marketing, promoting and distributing. He was prompted to write The Self-Publishing Manual because so many publishers wanted to know his secret to selling so many books. Other self publishing podcasts are heard weekly at noon on every Friday at www.WBJBRadio.com. Past Pod Casts have features interviews with the presidents of Author House and IUniverse and the former finance vice president of Xlibris. Listeners can subscribe to the show at either the WBJB website or through iTunes. The show is sponsored by www.SelfPublishing.com.




New in paperback: The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site (by Steve Weber)