My self-published book, Business Doctors, shows an Out of Stock status on Flipkart. My year-long publishing experiment is over and I won’t be printing any more physical copies. This puts Business Doctors in an unusual situation, with a dormant demand building up for it but no new stock to quell it. Here’s the book marketing … Read more
Steven Piersanti (President, Berrett-Koehler Publishers) recently published a top 10 list on the trends in the publishing industry. Though the numbers that are cited in the article are from the US, I’m guessing that some trends might be applicable to the world market as well. First a quick summary of the post and then we … Read more
When it comes to selling novels, there is a common assumption (and practice) in the publishing world. After the author has received his share of limelight and media exposure during the book launch event, he goes back to his high pedestal to work on the next masterpiece while his humongous fan following flocks to the … Read more
After you’ve spent hundreds (thousands) of hours working on your book and getting it published, what would your reaction be if you saw it available for free download on a peer-to-peer file sharing site? My guess is, you wouldn’t be too happy. Piracy is a big problem wherever Intellectual Property Rights come into picture. This … Read more
How you write and structure a book has a lot to do with what genre you choose. This decision will also have a big influence on another aspect that’s important for publishers – your target market size. For many new writers there’s a natural inclination to be drawn towards a specific genre like romance, thrillers, … Read more
What’s the best way to convince a publisher that you have a platform to promote your books so they take your query letter and your book proposal seriously? ‘I used my blog to sell X hundred/thousand copies of my first book.’ What’s the next best way, if you are an unpublished author with a popular … Read more
‘Great, you are an author now! So Mr Author, when am I getting my complimentary copy? Oh c’mon, don’t act like a stingy business-man now, 1 copy won’t hurt.’ If you’ve ever said this (or might say it in the future) to your good-friend-turned-author, read on to know the truth behind ‘free’ author copies. Maybe … Read more
I maintain 3 blogs. The first one is an MBA blog which is quite popular among Indian MBA applicants who are targeting international business schools. The second blog is based on a creative word puzzle (Onamography) that I invented. This is my third blog and focuses on helping budding writers break into the publishing industry. … Read more
Marketing and promoting a book can be one of the biggest hurdles for first-time authors (Well, ok, after you’ve got a good literary agent to represent you, got a contract from a good publishing house and all other other equally challenging hurdles have been crossed…) Fortunately for those who have the backing of an established … Read more
Self-publishing and vanity publishers have existed in various forms for a very long time. Despite the contrasting views about the pros and cons of this approach, the market for vanity publishing has grown within the writing community, especially for first time authors. And there’s a reason for that. The traditional publishing model makes it very … Read more
Book trailers can be an additional weapon in the arsenal of authors who are exploring unconventional options of promoting their book. Their function is pretty much similar to movie trailers. They generate curiosity about the product and provide a sneak peek into what readers can expect.