Category: Blogs @ How to Self Publish


Registering Copyright Of A Self Published Book – The Follow Through

Filed Under: Blogs @ How to Self Publish, How To Series... Step By Step, Resources for Writing and Self Publishing by Corinne — Comments Off on Registering Copyright Of A Self Published Book – The Follow Through
June 18, 2013
Finishing up with your copyright obligation is just like a walk on the beach. A walk on an Oregon beach, which requires a warm jacket and an umbrella.

Finishing up with your copyright obligation is just like a walk on the beach. A walk on an Oregon beach, which requires a warm jacket and an umbrella.

While it is not legally required to register your copyright with the US Government, it is highly recommended. I register my copyrights once I have completed my manuscript – before I self publish.

This allows me to upload an electronic copy of my manuscript – which by then, I have formatted as a book – and costs me $35 (in 2013).

Once I self publish my book, I have to follow through with the copyright registration process by mailing two good copies of the book to the copyright office.

“Mandatory Deposit in Brief

• All works under copyright protection that are published in the United States are subject to the mandatory deposit provision of the copyright law.

• This law requires that two copies of the best edition of every copyrightable work published in the United States be sent to the Copyright Office within three months of publication.”

This requirement is beautifully described in Circular 7d, Mandatory Deposit of Copies or Phonorecords for the Library of Congress.

I copied the quoted text from www.copyright.gov and I’m not sure of the copyright of that copyright info… so I’m trying hard to be clear about where I got that… but I’m the one who made “within three months of publication” bold, because I think that’s quite an important point.

These two copies become the property of the US Government and will not be returned. You also have to pack them nicely so that they don’t get blown up by Homeland Security on their way to the Library of Congress.

There is no additional fee for this step, other than the postage.

Not only does this step complete your copyright registration process, and protect your work for a couple hundred years (or less), it also ensures that YOUR book is one of the dozens – well, bizillions – of books on the shelf in a way-cool library. Or stacked in a basement somewhere; who knows.

Library of Congress
Copyright Office
Attn: 407 Deposits
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20559

 

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What Was That Book I Saw On The Portland Bike Ride 2013?

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Just a Couple of Chickens", Blogs @ How to Self Publish by Corinne — Comments Off on What Was That Book I Saw On The Portland Bike Ride 2013?
June 9, 2013
What was the name of that book you saw suggested on the big Portland Bike Ride on June 8th, 2013?

What was the name of that book you saw suggested on the big Portland Bike Ride on June 8th, 2013?

What was the book you saw on the recent Portland Bike Ride on June 8th, 2013?

It was Just A Couple Of Chickens, by Corinne Tippett!

The placard was worn by Andrew Hunt, who is a main character in the book, and who is my husband, and who was riding the “E” bike of the Love Bikes on last nights stunning bike ride through the streets of downtown Portland.

Andrew was wearing the book cover, and not much else…

Because it was the World Naked Bike Ride, Portland 2013!

I thought it was an excellent promotional opportunity, not to be missed. I’m a marketing machine, you see.

The Love Bikes are an art project originally prepared by an inspired group of bike lovers for Burning Man 2012, but also riding Portland’s Last Thursdays on Alberta as often as possible.

Andrew reports that the 2013 Portland ride could have been called Knock Your Socks Off amazing except that nobody was wearing any.

 

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A New Aviation Biography Is Now Available On Amazon.com…. and back within 24 hours if ever out of stock

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Colonel C. J. Tippett", Resources for Writing and Self Publishing by Corinne — Comments Off on A New Aviation Biography Is Now Available On Amazon.com…. and back within 24 hours if ever out of stock
June 6, 2013
Unlimited numbers of copies of When No One Else Would Fly, by Corinne Tippett are available on Amazon.com... and if it says out of stock, just check back the next day.

Unlimited numbers of copies of When No One Else Would Fly, by Corinne Tippett are available on Amazon.com… and if it says out of stock, just check back the next day.

There’s a new aviation pioneering biography in town, and it’s really good. Worth ordering on Amazon.com!

And when you order, you can get the book in about three days!  Which is quite incredible considering everything going on in the background.

It is a symphony of electronic publishing, distribution, and delivery that has changed hugely in just the last three years – since I published my first good book, titled  Just A Couple Of Chickens.

One reason the book has recently been going in and out of stock – although never out of stock for more than 48 hours – is because I am mucking about with the cover.

One reason I am mucking about with the cover is that this Print On Demand super-fast-mega-cool print system has a small amount of fluctuation in the cover placement on the book. It’s less than a quarter of an inch, but that can mean a line gets out of place, or a forehead gets stretched.

It all started with my correction to the back matter on the book. I wanted to say that Tip piloted more than ninety-eight different aircraft models, (instead of types of aircraft) and when I made that change, things started to color outside the lines in very minor ways.

The overall print quality, however, is way way way better than it was three years ago. My latest stack of author copies had NO flaws…and three years ago, it was 2 in 10.

My book does not sit in a warehouse, or garage, waiting for orders. It exists as an electronic file within Amazon’s extensive distribution network and when you order a copy, it prints at the nearest facility near you, and ships out fast.

There is no waste. No stacks of remaindered books going into the landfill or shredder. No trucking heavy books over miles of interstate. No packing material wrapping pallets of books in cardboard, binding, plastic, and more cardboard.

It looks to me like some of the early bugs in the Print On Demand system have been solved, and more. Big changes, big improvements – just in time for a Tip’s big story.

If you go online to get When No One Else Would Fly and it ‘s out of stock, check back the next day.

 

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What is the LCCN or PCN Number? Does a self published book need the LCCN?

Filed Under: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, Blogs @ How to Self Publish by Corinne — 2 Comments
June 5, 2013
Cuckoo Maran Chicks Love "When No One Else Would Fly" and "Just A Couple Of Chickens" but they wonder about the LCCN.

Cuckoo Maran Chicks Love “When No One Else Would Fly” and “Just A Couple Of Chickens” but they wonder about the LCCN.

The Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) is not legally required for a self published book, but it is a mark of professionalism and it does have meta data (and other) advantages.

The Preassigned Control Number (PCN) is the process through which you apply to get your LCCN, and all of this has to be done before you publish your book.

It can take several weeks to receive the LCCN for your book title, and so it should be part of your self publishing calendar as you plan.

The application process, and the assignment, is free. It is only available to self publishers who have created a business and the PCN office will determine if you are eligible for a LCCN.

Having a LCCN is one of the actions you take as a self publisher that makes you really more of an independent publisher or small press.

The entire point of having a LCCN is so that libraries can find, and therefore order, your book for their library collection.

On the one hand, there are @ 9,000 libraries in the USA and if they all ordered my book, I would be very pleased. On the other hand, if my book is in the library, then I am not selling more copies even though I am gaining more readers.

So why do I want the LCCN?  Because I absolutely love libraries and I want my book in the library because it’s part of my vision of being a writer. A vision of a print book on a library bookshelf – like all those thousands of books from the library shelves throughout my life, since the day I could read.

But besides visions and dreams, having my book in the Library of Congress database is part of the magic of SEO and keyword searchability that is an ongoing, slow process similar to the formation of a coral reef. One coral reeflet is lost in the wide ocean, but over time, the reef can grow until it gains the attention of everyone who passes. These small registry actions I take will accrete over time and make my name more findable, and my books more available.

Once you have your LCCN, it goes on the copyright page of your book. The formatting is described in the email or letter you get from the PCN office. There is a follow-up step required once you publish your book, and that is to send a copy of the book (a nice copy, not a proof or flawed one) to the Library of Congress. At the time of this writing, 2013, that address is below. Sending the copy for the LCCN is not the same as sending two copies for your copyright obligation.

          Library of Congress
          US & Publisher Liaison Division
          Cataloging in Publication Program
          101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
          Washington, DC 20540-4283

 

 

 

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How Does Amazon Sales Ranking Relate to Monthly Book Sales?

Filed Under: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, Blogs @ How to Self Publish by Corinne — Comments Off on How Does Amazon Sales Ranking Relate to Monthly Book Sales?
May 14, 2013
Trying to determine monthly book sales from the Amazon Best Seller Rank is not black and white.

Trying to determine monthly book sales from the Amazon Best Seller Rank is not black and white.

How does Amazon sales ranking relate to monthly book sales?

Nobody knows. Except maybe Amazon, and they aren’t telling.

But some very determined, diligent, and intelligent people have taken on the challenge of trying to find an answer – and they’ve posted some tools and guides.

They are mostly authors who have self published books for sale on Amazon.com and have found, as I have found, that there is no way to independently verify how many of our books have sold on Amazon.com. We have to settle for Amazon’s report each month… and be patient with the fact that some kinds of sales have several weeks delay in posting on that report.  (I should say here that this whole situation isn’t much different from having to rely on a traditional publisher for a report of monthly sales – and in those cases, the delay can be much longer… but still… inquiring authors want to know.)

At first I wanted to know because I was concerned that maybe I was selling hundreds of thousands of books but only getting paid for about ten. But once I cruised the reports and sites and saw the general overviews of Amazon book ranking translated to estimated overall monthly sales, I accepted reality, (not really, but I pretended to)… and Amazon’s reporting.

Then I wanted to know how many books other authors were selling, particularly my favorite authors or some of the successful self published authors I’ve been following.

Amazon.com shows a book sales ranking as Amazon Best Seller Rank, under Product Details” on the book’s Amazon.com listing – you scroll down past “Description,” past “Customers Viewed This Item Also Viewed,” past “Editorial Reivews,” and you are there.

The rank changes every day, depending on your own book sales, and other people’s book sales. It is a complex algorithm (or a bingo cage at Amazon headquarters) and it can be very volatile.

The most interesting thing about the ranking is the general number range; like less than 100,000 or more than one million. All the info I’ve gathered about this number range is from people observing on their own, not from Amazon.com’s CFO, but I’ve done enough of my own double checking (on my own numbers and through other sources) that I think it is somewhat accurate.

In general, if your ranking is less than 100,000, you are probably selling several books every month. If your ranking is more than one million – meaning that there are at least one million better selling books on Amazon.com than your book… you are probably only selling a couple of books a month (or less), or haven’t sold a book in a couple of weeks (or more) – and you should probably stop checking your ranking and start doing more marketing.

But sell two books in two weeks and watch that ranking climb!  For one day.

Another resource, which is far more iffy, is a site that offers you a chance to enter your actual sales ranking and see what you actually might be selling monthly or daily. I found this calculator a little buggy – make sure you zero it all out and try it several times with slightly variable numbers. But it did show me numbers that made sense on my own ranking, and some test rankings where I already knew the monthly sales of other books.

There are also sites that helpfully offer, for free, to track your Amazon.com sales ranking; presumably so that you can have an average to plug into the calculator.

For me, having yet another numerical measure in my life is unappealing, especially because it does not generally make it under 100,000 on any given day, so I am satisfied with the occasional overview.

I could toss it into my goal pile, but instead, I’m going to get ready to release my grandfather’s aviation biography and see what happens to THAT sales ranking… wahOOOOOO!

 

 

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Changing Passwords Frequently Is An Opportunity for Positive Thinking

Filed Under: Blogs @ How to Self Publish, Resources for Writing and Self Publishing by Corinne — Comments Off on Changing Passwords Frequently Is An Opportunity for Positive Thinking
April 30, 2013
Positive thinking blooms when I use passwords as daily affirmations.

Positive thinking blooms when I use passwords as daily affirmations.

As a Do It Your Self Publisher, I have to log in to about twenty bizillion sites multiple times a day in order to self publish a book – including my own computer, my work computer, my voice mail, my work voice mail, my own phone, my work phone, … etc. The recent increase in internet hacking has led to an increase in password changing in my life – and now multiple logins on sites that used to require only one.

I’m trying not to see it as a pain in the rump, and instead as an opportunity for the practice of positive thinking since I recently changed over to creating passwords as daily affirmations.

And since the new passwords requirements are more stringent – for instance, not allowing me to change my password to something really really similar to my last password…. (schna!) I am scratching for words to express my positivity.

(And yes, I know that lame passwords are the real world equivalent of tying my car key on a really long string to the outside handle of my car door… but jeez. A bizillion random passwords are harder to remember than the location of my one car key!)

So I made a l helpful uber list of positive word synonyms so that I can work them into my new passwords and I decided to share them here on my blog, so that everyone can join me in trying to think up positive mini-mantras that do not contain my dog’s name, the word “password”, or something obscene – which while fun and affirming, was not very positive.

  • Love, adore, ally, amour, appreciate, cherish, delight, devote, enchanted, enjoy, fondly, friend, hanker, idolize, infatuated, like, regard, relish, repsect, worship, yearn, desire, prefer, want, wish, will, do, did, will do,
  • peace, accord, order, pacification, reconiliation, treaty, truce, unanimous, improve, advance, amend, better, boost, cultivate, elevate, mend, fix, elevate, rally, raise, shape up, upgrade, update, rise, revise
  • accomplish, achieve, acquire, attain, carryout, complete, deliver, do, effect, enact, finish, negotiate, perfect, perform, procure, produce…

Now that I think of it, I could also use my daily passwords to:

  • teach myself how to spell words that I always misspell,
  • or capitalizations I always miss,
  • or my new word of the month that I’m trying to learn.

Yet another way to turn a tedious chore into a positive moment!  And also, my second book is almost ready for release. Search Amazon.com for Corinne Tippett or join my book release list to catch the wave.

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Definitions in Self Publishing… like Do It Your Self Publishing

Filed Under: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, Blogs @ How to Self Publish by Corinne — Comments Off on Definitions in Self Publishing… like Do It Your Self Publishing
April 23, 2013
It is Tulip Time here in Portland, and my bulbs of do it your self publishing are getting ready to bloom.

It is Tulip Time here in Portland, and my bulbs of do it your self publishing are getting ready to bloom.

I’ve blogged about this issue of definitions within the term “self publishing” before, but I am doing it again because I think it is so important…

This new publishing landscape is driving the need for new publishing terminology,

Self publishing versus Do It Your Self Publishing

Self publishing generally refers to hiring a company – or a series of professionals, to turn your manuscript or project into a book . You pay for it your self, and that makes it self publishing. I don’t think it is a misnomer for self publishing, because you are hiring services same as you would if you were the CEO of a traditional publishing company.

Do It Your Self Publishing is doing all of the work yourself – hiring pieces out if you can afford it, or taking on the whole process personally. Sometimes including the cover production.

This is important (at least to me) because I am focused on Do It Your Self Publishing… intending to pursue it to get my books out until I can lure a traditional publisher to get them out with me.

The fundamental issues are quality and cost. Do It Your Self Publishing is definitely lower cost than Self Publishing, but the challenge is to match the quality. By doing everything myself, I am more likely to make back my costs through book sales (at all, or quickly)… but not if I do a bad job of the editing, layout, ebook programming, cover, and promotion.

Another reason I’m re-blogging about definitions is because I’m SO CLOSE to releasing my second book, “When No On Else Would Fly” the biography and memoir of my grandfather, Colonel C. J. Tippett, aviation pioneer, and handsome glamorous guy. But instead of announcing the release, I’m waiting for my copyproofer to finish proofing the copy.

My copyproofer is a teenager and although she can finish a twilight novel – or anything related to dragons or vampires – in about 15 minutes, it seems to be taking her longer to read MY book.

Which does NOT mean it is boring or flawed. It means that it has no vampires in it. None at all. And maybe also has something to do with the fact that I’m paying her …. not much. I offered to tell her her birth story again.

We use what resources we have, here in DIY Self Publishing – but our products are excellent. Our books are compelling.  And ALMOST ready for release!

 

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