September 1, 2009

ROLAND'S RULES OF FOUR - A WINNER'S GUIDE TO SUCCESSFUL SELF-PUBLISHING

IX

To view previous posts in this series on successful self-0publishing, go to:

Roland's weblog archives

Lest there are readers out there who wish to take issue with the premise of this series of self-publishing posts, let me pass along a disclaimer: I'm not saying that utilizing my Rules of Four is the only way to self-publish books, nor even that mine is the best way. I'm only saying that the process I'm outlining worked for me.

But perhaps the issue someone might take with this series of posts is that it seems too much "all about me." To that I can only refer to Henry David Thoreau, who wrote in Walden: "I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew so well."

In this post, however, let's talk about someone else:

I don't know the name of the book, nor of the author. She wandered up to my table at a book signing at a Waldenbook store in Littleton, Colorado. She stood nearby for a few minutes, obviously screwing up a modicum of courage, then asked, "How did you get your books into the major chain stores?"

I spotted her anguish. "Do you have a book?"

She nodded. "But I can't get the chain stores to carry it because it has the wrong ISBN number."

"Wha-a-t!"

"I trusted someone else to do the cover design and they put the wrong ISBN number on it. That's why none of the chains can even find it. I've had all this publicity: major newspapers all over America ran excellent reviews. But no one can get the book."

"Ma'am, you'll have to explain . . ."

The lady's book was on how to engage in "safe" cybersex. While it's not a topic of riveting interest to an old guy like me (nor perhaps a few of you) I saw immediately such a book's enormous appeal to tons of people all over the world. Not only that, she had a ready-made vehicle in the internet to promote the book. But through what one might think a minor cover design error, she's denied access to the very vehicle that could actually move thousands of copies.

The lady had a PhD in Psychology, so her credentials for writing the book were in splendid order. "But," she wailed, "I'm sitting here with thousands of dollars worth of books in my basement with no way to sell them!"

The lady showed me her book's cover. As I recall, it was dynamic. So much so that I complimented her on its title and the quality of her cover blurbs: all were excellent promises to entice any bookstore browser. She'd also promoted her own professorial credentials in a tasteful and complimentary way.

I can't attest to its inside text or layout because I wasn't shown a copy, only a cover sheet. But if the book was as well written as its cover text, she has a winner.

Maybe.

If she finds a way around her marketing dilemma.

There is a way, of course. There's always a way as long as one doesn't give up. That's where the chutzpah comes in; where believing in one's self is indispensable for success. But it took my wife to see it. Unfortunately Jane wasn't there when I talked with the safe-cybersex lady. However, whe I told her, the Skyline Publishing marketing guru shrugged and said, "She can have stickers made with the proper ISBN number, bar code, and price, then overlay them on each book."

Tedious? Yes. But a solution. What's more, as Jane pointed out, most major book wholesalers will print stickers and overlay them for you for a price. But only if they supply your book to the retail trade; a catch-22 that means the lady has to first sell some books to a few bookstores.

The lady certainly did have a story to tell. I presume she told it well. It was packaged well--almost. In order to succeed, however, she must believe in herself. She cannot give up. Instead, she must reach down and dig her way out of her trap. Perhaps by now she's found her way.

What's especially tragic about her case is that the best opportunity for actual sales, and for establishing your book in the marketplace is the first few months its release. That she missed her best window of opportunity is a given.

Perhaps, on the other hand, there'll be coming generations who'll also be interested in engaging in safe cybersex. If so, she might have a book that will acquire what is known in the book industry as one with "legs," continuing to sell well year after year.

This post pretty well ends most of my beliefs relative to bookcovers. You can view each of Roland's bookcovers by going to:

http://www.rolandcheek.com/

Click on bookstore, select your book of choice for close review

But before I go I should tell you that, though I always retained a cover designer for the high quality of her design work, I must take responsibility for our failures; I usually dictated the overall design form and wrote the cover text. Therefore, since the sins were mine and the wins were hers, I would have no reservations about recommending Laura to anyone wishing her email address. Ask for it.

Just remember:

* A good cover must attract a casual viewer's attention

* A good cover must tell what your book is about

* A good cover must promise the reader something

* A good cover must tell why the book's author is the best qualifed person to write it

 

Next week we'll get into branding, which, in many ways can easily be connected to bookcovers

 

REVIEW

In my view, no writer ever created a more sympathetic protagonist than did Herman Wouk when he penned the story of Pug Henry in Winds of War. Throughout the book, indeed, throughout its War and Remembrance sequel, I had to keep pinching myself to remember that Pug Henry wasn't a real person, that he didn't talk to Herman Goering in Berlin in 1938; that he wasn't in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Nor in Moscow and Yalta along with the rest of the U.S. delegation in subsequent years.

And it wasn't just Pug; there was his wife Rhoda, too. How could a writer--especially a man--create such a flawed, yet sympathetic woman; a vain, impatient, regal, stylish, woman unable to exert the self-control she'd always prided herself in mastering? Or their children, torn by war, torn by love, torn by events beyond their control?

The Henry family saga set a benchmark for all future sagas to emulate.

Winds of War and War and Rememberance are masterful books detailing historical events leading up to and through World War II, placing only a few ordinary-seeming fictional characters inside well-known events, including concentration camp gas chambers and in front-line trenches as the Nazi juggernaut finally ground to a halt in Russian mud.

Pug Henry, trained for naval command and utilized as a more important military attache. Short, stocky, winsome Pug, always following his sense of duty as other, more powerful leaders saw it. Forgiving by nature, forgoing by command, indispensable to result.

I wonder if Wouk himself had to set reminders that Pug Henry was merely a figment of his imagination?

Or was he imagination only? Perhaps there really was a Pug Henry. After all, Wouk's Pug was shy and retiring--the very kind of guy who would've done his job superbly, then faded away just before the awards ceremony.

 

for previous posts in

ROLAND'S RULES OF FOUR - A WINNER'S GUIDE TO SUCCESSFUL SELF-PUBLISHING

visit

http://www.rolandcheek.com/weblog_archives.html