Tag: book

Five Reasons I Won’t Buy Your Book

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There are certain things that can turn me into the Orange Jacket Meme Guy/Drake within 5 seconds of seeing a book. Here is the list.

  • Bad/Mediocre Cover Art: You know what they say, “You can judge a book by its cover.” Trying to save money by making a cover yourself (if you are not a professional artist) is a bad idea. Having a friend make a cover for you is also an equally bad idea. And even if you are a professional artist, it still may be better to have someone else make your cover, as it is hard to be objective about your own artwork. Since the cover is going to be a key thing that sells the book, it’s worth every penny. Even a mediocre or okay cover will not cut it. You need to have a top quality product. Quality art says, “I put time and effort into this.” Otherwise, why should I spend my time and money on something that is not a quality product when there are millions of other books available?
  • A book cover can cost anywhere from $10-$950. However, the good news is that I have seen decent covers available for anywhere between $80-$250. One way to save money while still getting a quality product is to buy a pre-made rather than custom cover. At the following Facebook page, you can buy quality pre-made covers for around $80. Book Cover Gallery – A Place for Authors and Artists
  • Bad Summary: After looking at the cover, the very next thing I’m going to look at is your book’s summary (the blurb that is usually on the back cover). A book summary should have at least 1-2 paragraphs. These paragraphs need to tell the reader the following: What is the hook (What is it about this book that will draw the reader into the story)? Who is your protagonist? What is their goal? What are their struggles to reach that goal? What are the stakes? What is a short, summarized explanation of the plot? Tell us about the unique world or situation they are dealing with that makes this different from other books. Read the summaries of popular books to get an understanding of what you should do.
  • I’ve seen too many self-published books where there are only about 1-2 sentences giving me a vague description like, “This is my book of poems.” Okay, why should I care? Or, “Experience a summer of romance where Bob meets two charming dudes who sweep him off his feet.” Why do I care about Bob or these random dudes? And why should I spend money to see what happens to them? The other problem is writing a summary that is too long. If you can’t summarize your story in under a minute, there’s a good chance that you don’t know the key points of your own story.
  • Another deal breaker for me in the summary is overdone plots: vampire romance, YA dystopia, and zombies.
  • Off putting topics: The other day I read a blurb for a self-published book that casually mentioned child torture. That was enough to make me not buy the book. Other hot potato topics are rape, trauma, or anything that relates to cruelty toward animals and children. These topics must be handled with caution if you should decide to mention them.
  • No Reviews: I’m less inclined to buy a book that has no reviews whatsoever. Definitely beg, bribe, hypnotize, or do whatever you must to get your family and friends to review the book. That will definitely increase the chances of you making a sale.
  • Grammatical/Spelling Mistakes Within the First Five Pages: With many books, you can read a short sample before you make a purchase. If I see simple mistakes of spelling, punctuation, or grammar in the first five pages, I will definitely not buy this book. What this shows me is that the author couldn’t even be bothered to use a simple spell-check tool. Paying for an editor to review your book is another important investment as a self-published author. Yet it can be expensive, anywhere from $1000-$10,000. However, if you can’t afford an editor, at least pay for a program like grammarly, which will catch most of the basic mistakes for you. This will cost around $144 a year. Yes, it sucks to spend money, but you have to spend money to make money. Few people are going to buy a book with basic grammar errors on the first page.
  • Bad Writing in the First Five Pages: Of course, writing is a very subjective art. But in terms of the basics I would stay away from, here is a short list:
  • Cliches such as starting the book with a character waking up and describing their typical day, or the character looking in the mirror.
  • Nothing happens. It’s just happy people doing happy things.
  • Too much description about something that is not important.
  • Too little description. I am not grounded in the world and I have no idea what is happening.
  • Sexist writing that objectifies women. I get that your male character is attracted to women, but starting out the story with a gratuitous description of her breasts and butt (when this is not erotica) will lose my interest (Yes, I’ve put down books for this reason). And given that 70% of people who buy books are women, this may not be the way to start out.
  • Too many characters. In many self-published books I’ve bought, I’ve seen the mistake where the author feels a need to introduce all their key characters in the first chapter. Having ten random new people all thrown at me simultaneously makes my head feel like it’s spinning. Try not to introduce the reader to too many people at once.
  • I would definitely recommend that you pay for a developmental editor if you can afford it. And if not, at least get a friend to read your book and give you feedback before you publish. Also, I would recommend that you join a writers group. A writers group has immense value for developing your skills as a writer and getting free feedback.

I hope this was helpful. Feel free to comment. Now go publish the best book you can!

Do NOT Write a Book

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The title may seem like odd advice since this is a blog for writers.

Isn’t the first step of being a writer to … you know… write?

That may be true, but there are several good reasons not to start off your career as a writer by writing a book.

I just read a great article by Medium author Akshay Gajria called, “Please Do NOT Write a Book.” I highly recommend it.

The point Akshay makes is that a large number people have dreams of writing a book. And many of these people often have unrealistic expectations.

While there are all sorts of workshops and books out there training people how to write “12k” words a day, Akshay reminds his readers that much much more goes into a book than simply getting words down. There’s also editing and research.

While it may take 6 months to simply write a first draft, polishing that first draft into a quality product can take years. For me, it takes 2-3 years on average to write and finish a book. And that includes working on said book about 5 days a week.

Writing a book is not a mere passion project. It’s a major commitment. And it’s something that takes skill. One must know how to structure a story, create compelling characters, have a logical plot, good pacing and quality description.

A great point that Akshay made is that one should build their skill by writing short stories first. Short stories require a much smaller time commitment. They are also much easier to get published than novels. A publisher takes a smaller financial risk on a short story than a novel.

Many of the most famous authors today got their start with short stories, including Stephen King and George R.R. Martin.

Short stories are also a good way to build your portfolio, get your name out there and build an audience before you make the major commitment to write a book.

If you enjoyed this advice, please read Akshay Gajria’s article, “Please Do Not Write a Book.”

Mango Publishing Interview – Starting an Independent Book Publisher

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Mango Publishing has been listed as one of the top ten independent book publishers in the U.S. by NY Book Editors.

In their sixth year of existence, Mango Publishing is one of the fastest-growing publishers in the country, and was a finalist for Publisher of the Year at Digital Book World 2019.

So I am very grateful that they were willing to talk with me in my continuing series of articles on independent publishing. The interview below was held with Mango’s Director of Logistics, Hugo. He has been with the company since the very beginning. I would also like to give a shout out to Geena El-Haj (Mango’s Marketing Communications Coordinator) for helping me to facilitate the interview.

JBJ: Why was Mango Publishing created?

Hugo: I don’t know if we had a very intentional start. Mango Media, the original incarnation, and parent company, was formed with the idea of being a modern, data-driven media company that explored the intersection of books and smartphone apps. Through that journey of mistakes, we stumbled upon a consistent theme: Gut. “My gut tells me,” “I have a gut feeling,” “I think I should listen to my gut…”

Nearly every project we created in the media days revolved around a lot of gut instinct. Something that was diametrically opposed to the mission of being data-driven. So we reevaluated our process of creating content and identified a hole in the market: books published for consumers, ignoring the “gut” of buyers, agents and traditional public relations, and instead focusing on the analytics on consumer trends.

JBJ: For other people who are interested in doing the same thing, what were the steps your publishing company took starting out?

Hugo: It’ll sound repetitive, but the data was our focal point. Once we understood how outdated the publishing landscape was, we began to reinvent it by following the success of content creators. Bloggers, journalists, podcasters, YouTubers, chefs and artists who were creating content for a specific audience. We didn’t (and still don’t) care how large their audience was or even how engaged they were. We were more interested in their expertise in the field and their authentic relationship with their audience.

JBJ: What are the important services you have to pay for when running an independent publisher?

Hugo: Everything. Mitchell Kaplan of Books and Books loves to tell people, “If you want to make one million dollars selling books, start with two million dollars.” You won’t find many people in publishing that are in it for the money, regardless of how Hollywood likes to present it. Publishing, indie publishing, is a world filled with constant minor expenses, thin margins and incredible people. You can’t skimp on design, or editing, or printing or sustainability and expect to have a book that delivers on the promise their author made when announcing the book.

JBJ: Do you mind giving me a figure for a starting budget?

Hugo: It’s too vague to give a number because, at least for us, we build our list on every title carrying its weight. So they all get their financial support in the same capacity (in direct marketing, advertising, design costs, editing, etc.). P&Ls play a role in our commissioning process, but more than that, it’s the mission of the book, the authenticity of the author and the potential of the data.

JBJ: Would you especially recommend anyone or any website for the following services: legal, production, editing?

Hugo: No. Everyone’s purpose for those services is different, so there’s no way to outright recommend people or services in a general sense.

JBJ: What is Mango Publishing’s greatest challenge?

Hugo: Pre-pandemic I would have said time. Mainly time for commissioning. We have endless data helping us identify authors, categories, trends and more. Yet the time that goes into building the trust and relationship with your authors is incalculable and not something that can be skipped or ignored. In a post-covid world, print production is probably our biggest hurdle. Supply chain issues, paper shortages, sustainability limitations and limited warehouse workers all add chaos to a highly delicate system.

JBJ: What is the most rewarding aspect of what Mango Publishing does?

Hugo: Publishing under-represented voices from marginalized or ignored communities.

JBJ: You guys are listed as one of the top ten independent book publishers by NY Book Editors. What is the secret to your success?

Hugo: Getting unimaginably lucky with our hiring. Having the mission of reinventing publishing and publishing underrepresented authors is nice and all, but without the insane luck of the people we’ve been able to hire and work with buying into it, we would have folded up years ago.

JBJ: What steps would you recommend to an author who is submitting a query to you? What is the best way for a prospective author to get published at your publishing house?

Hugo: Know your audience. I don’t care if you have a massive platform with eight million subscribers or a new podcast with 3,000 downloads a month. Those are both fantastic and reaches we can work with, but in order for them to work, we need the author to understand their audience: who they are, why they follow them, what they’re looking for, and more.

JBJ: What are your plans for the future?

Hugo: Partner with incredible authors, design and print beautiful books and continue to push forward with the idea of borderless publishing.

For more information, check out Mango Publishing here.