Common Print on Demand (POD) Publishing Problems
Anyone can be a published author today. It doesn’t matter what level of education you have attained or what your experiences in life have been. If you have the ability to write a book, you can take advantage of affordable print on demand (POD) publishing to get your message out to the world.
In fact, POD has opened the literary world to millions of people who may have otherwise had no chance or little of being published, and less of paying for often costly self-publishing ventures. Yet, there are many problems that can come out of POD as well such as the following issues.
– Many POD books are sloppily written and filled with inaccuracies. This gives the industry a bad reputation that consumers don’t trust.
– Too many POD books are not properly formatted and are extremely difficult to read. Just one consumer review stating the book is unreadable could be the kiss of death for the book.
– If you don’t know how to properly market your POD book, you could find yourself without sales. There is no publishing house to send you out on book tours and pay for glossy magazine ads.
– Many people don’t want to spend the time to do research and then also spend more time to get word of their book out to the public. When you have to do all the work yourself, it is time consuming.
– If you don’t understand the publishing world, you may tumble around and make tons of little mistakes that cost in the long run. A basic knowledge of the publishing world past and present is essential, so take the time to learn.
– Once your name is attached to an unreadable or a sloppy POD book, it becomes difficult to sell other books even if you do clean up your act.
So, anyone can be a published author today. The question is what type of published author do you want to be. If you want to be one that is successful and respected you can’t just slop together a book and throw it out there. Make sure it is ready for the public eye.
3 Electronic Publishing Blunders to Avoid
The ability to publish on your own through the Internet has added a new dimension to the world of publishing. You don’t have to wait months or years for a publisher to see the value in your book because you can just publish electronically yourself. You just have to avoid a few common blunders to increase your chances of success.
Blunder #1: Speaking above or below your audience.
You should consider your nonfiction book a conversation with someone else. This someone else is the ideal person to benefit from your book. Everything you write inside the book must read as if you are talking right to them.
This means the language should not be so technical that they can’t understand it. It also means not writing in such elementary terms that your reader gets bored. Write as if you are speaking to them and they are more likely to listen.
Blunder #2: Marketing with poor writing.
You may have a well organized, detailed book that is perfectly written and proofread. Yet, you won’t get many people to actually buy it if they find poor writing quality on websites and advertisements related to the book.
If there are typos and grammatical mistakes all over your marketing materials, most people will assume that sloppy writing will be found inside the book as well. Everything you do to market the book must be well written or it will negatively affect sales.
Blunder #3: Giving too much away for free.
There is a benefit to giving some small details of your book away in order to intrigue people to buy the whole thing. The problem is you can’t give away so much that no one feels the need to purchase the book.
If they can get the main points without paying for the entire book, why would they buy it?
Don’t give too much away for free. Learn the art of telling what your book has to offer without completely giving away your secrets.