Publisher's Insurance? Who Needs It, and Why.

When I saw the headline "Publishers Insurance", the first thing that I did was scan the article to see if this is something I needed to consider as an independent publisher. From what I could tell at a glance, this insurance was for people establishing their own publishing companies. While I publish independently (through Kindle and KDP), I have not established my own publishing company.

I was interested to see why, if I do establish my own publishing company, I might need this insurance. Things to think about are copyright infringement, defamation, invasion of privacy, and more. Policies that cover this are loosely termed "publisher policies". A little scary, isn't it! I mean, I write fiction, but I can still be sued. Changing a characters name or even sex doesn't really cover things if they are easily identifiable as a public figure (or even a well known private figure).

I don't even want to think about the cost - I haven't published that many books, and at this point it is questionable if paying for editing will even pay for itself. I am going to keep this in mind for future reference, as I do intend to continue writing books (albeit cozy mysteries), and publishing them.

However, if you make the decision to publish not only your own work, but that of others, I would seriously consider looking at these policies. The following is a small list of places that offer publishers policies:

Commercial Insurance 

Trusted Choice 

The Hartford 

Insureon 

Hiscox

The following articles address what to look for in publishing insurance policies:

Copy Law  

Authors Guild

(c) December 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.

The Legend of Justice and Diamonds - Second Printing

"The Legend of Justice and Diamonds" was originally published through Xulon Press in 2010. It is now available through Create Space and Kindle (The Legend of Justice and Diamonds). (You can find my review of the first printing here.) I was (and still am!) drawn to this book because it takes its foundation from the Tarot, which has been a a part of my life "forever". The book presents the cards as both living virtues, and living human beings, fashioned by The Creator. The background is that of what author Louis F. Hemsey terms "first Earth" - the time before Earth as we know it.

The voice of the story is Acellus, The Creator's scribe. He is also the first angelic being. Through his visions, the reader moves into the past, into what is termed an alternate reality, where it is the sixth year reign of the first King - a rogue entitled the King of Clubs. The story exemplifies the eternal struggle between good and evil, and moves smoothly between three realms - (1) the Forest of Cards, (2) the earthly realm of the Kng of Clubs, and (3) the realm of the Keepers, the ones who read the Tarot cards.

As an author myself, I am imressed with the manner in which Hemsey moved his work from Xulon Press to the independent publishing venues of Create Space and Kindle. The addition of a dlightful new cover spices things up nicely!

I have it on good authority (Hemsey himself!) that a sequel is in the works - involving the son's of the Jack of Diamonds and the Ace of Spades, along with the Queen of Diamonds and Lady Arabella of Saxon.

Now is a good time to read (and savor) the first book, so that you have the background handy for reading the sequel!

(c) November 2017 Bonnie Cehovet

Should Indie Authors Give Away Free ebooks?

One of the things that really make me happy are getting free ebooks. Usually they are promotional in nature, and I try to remember to leave a review on Amazon.com and Goodreads. Sometime I have to sign up for the author's newsletter, which is fine with me. I want to get to know mystery author's, because one of my current WIP's is a mystery that I want to turn into a series.Win/win for author and reader, as far as I am concerned.

It turns out that there are pros and cons to this issue.

• We have to take into account how many people will unsubscribe as soon as they get their free ebooks. My thought here is that if the newsletter is viable enough, people will stick with an author that interests them. 
• Another thought is that with all of the free/low cost (99 cent) ebooks out there, readers will not purchase a full price ebook. There is always going to be that segment of the reading population, but there will be those who do go on to purchase at full price. My belief is that the numbers here are greater than the number of people purchasing at full price without having read a free ebook as a dangling carrot.
• Then there is the thought that free ebooks may not get read. Personally. I have never chosen to not read an ebook that I have downloaded - paid for or free. So we take a chance as authors sending out free e-books. IMHO, the what I consider to be a small percentage of books that don't get read are far outweighed by those that do get read.
• I should make note here that if you have a book up on Kindle, you can offer it for free for five days out of ninety with KDP Select.
• Free ebooks are a great way for new authors to get known, and for established authors to introduce new work (as in a new series). It is a good idea when offering a free ebook to have a paid for ebook ready to go at the same time. Include an excerpt from the paid for ebook in the free ebook.

There are many sites where you can download free ebooks. This includes:

• FreeBookSpot
• FreeBooks
• Many Books
• Get Free Books
• instafreebie

(c) June 2017 Bonne Cehovet

My Own Little World

I recently wrote about finding out that Amazon.com had discounted the price on the book that I co-authored with Brad Tesh. Neither of us were happy about that, but we were assured by Create Space that we would be paid royalties according to the price that we had set for the book. That calmed us down a bit. A few days later I saw that a newly released book that I have out from a traditional publishing company (Schiffer Publishing) had been discounted, Deja vu all over again! Prices on any and all products can change from minute to minute ... and this is not just an Amazon quirk. What is this world coming to!

Now I am in a quandary about where I want to publish (and retain maximum control over my work). I am seriously thinking doing print books with a local printer, and selling both the print books and the e-book version from my site. I don't know if an e-book version from my site is possible ... I will have to look into that. n the end, I may stay with Kindle and Create Space. But I don't feel that I have total control over my work, not do I feel that I am adequately compensated. This my world ... I am a writer. There has to be a way to make this work.

Here's a fun link on marketing testing - AB Testing. If you site is an e-commerce site, you might want to read this.

From SmashingMagazine - 50 free resources to help improve your writing - 50 Free Resources.   

(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Use of this material in any venue prohibited without the written permission of the author.

Promoting, Promoting, Promoting

 

The past couple of weeks have been focused on promoting "Seek Joy ... Toss Confetti", the book that I co-authored with Brad Tesh. Our interview with Mary Nale of Attune Magazine Radio can be found here - Seek Joy ... Toss Confetti. We have an upcoming interview with  Jean Maurie Puhlman and Maggie Lukowski on Personal Empowerment For Your Soul, and two more radio interviews scheduled for May (I will place links here at a later date).

We offered our book as a free download on Kindle this past weekend, and had a very good response. We will do this again in a few weeks - it lets people know who we are, as well as have access to our book. While the free download is for the Kindle version only, we do have a print version through Create Space. The books can both be found here - Seek Joy ... Toss Confetti.

A work in progress for me is getting a book page up on Facebook. Then we will have to map out a plan of action to keep people talking about the book. There are many ways that we can do this - including sharing excerpts from the book, or discussing points from our "Toss the Confetti" section at the end of each chapter. This is a section that suggests ways in which people can actively place joy in their life. 

Brad and I are both very excited about this book, and feel that the first step is just to get people talking! We really don't realize the lack of joy in our lives until we start to loo for it ... and find it amongst the missing!

My next book,which will also be an e-book, addresses the subject of decision making. The ability to make decisions is where we empower ourselves. Understanding how to make informed decisions, and take decisive action, is what manifests our dreams into reality! Stay tuned!

(c) 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

 

2013 - Off To A Good Start!

I feel very good going into the new year! The past  year saw my second print book, “Tarot, Rituals, and You” http://tinyurl.com/aywlljb , go into publication (it is due out from Schiffer Publishing in June of 2013), and a self-help book, “Surviving the Holidays” http://tinyurl.com/bfsyfxd, released through the Amazon Kindle program. I have an outline ready for a second Kindle book that should be up by the end of March, at the latest. I set the groundwork, along with a friend, to co-author a book on empowerment, and am working with another friend on a companion book to a Tarot project that she is working on. Then there is the mystery book that I have the backbone ready to build on. It is going to be exciting, and very, very busy!

What was left over from 2012 was not necessarily something that needed to be brought to closure, it was more building on what was there. Setting up informational pages for my books, and deciding how and where I am going to promote them. I have a new voice recognition system (Dragon) that I am working with (it is still in the “getting to know” stages), which should streamline my writing.

Over the past few years I have learned a lot about the writing process. The biggest misconception – that it is a linear process. I find myself working on one or more projects, while outlining another one. I have to pay attention to making professional contacts wherever possible, and make a consistent effort on the social media sites. Probably the most surprising thing to me was the fact that I need to plan for promotion before a project is done – to know how, when, and where I want to promote my work. I love what I am doing – which is fortunate, because it is a lot of work!

I do have one link that I would like to share with you - http://writetodone.com/2013/01/02/writing-brand/. This is a wonderful article on ways to develop and protect your writing brand. (You did realize that you needed to first find your voice, and then brand your writing, yes?) You need to be able to envision your brand (form a clear picture of it in your mind), format how you are going to market it, know what is important to you, and deal with the details one at a time. BTW – There is a freebie right at the top of the page – an e-book entitled “The (nearly) Ultimate Guide To Better Writing”!

What does 2013 hold for you?

© January 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Surviving the Holidays

It has been a relatively short journey for me to get "Surviving t he Holidays - Taking Charge of Your Life" out there. For those that have been following this blog, you will know that my initial choice was to publish on Smashwords. I wanted to have my book out there, in multiple formats, with maximum availability. I still feel that Smashwords is a viable option, that they are well set up, and not that difficult a maze to make it through. My problem was that I am not good at formatting. Note: Mark Coker's instructions are excellent ... it was me that could not implement them. That, and I never was ab le to get a copy of "Mark's List", the list of Smashwords author's that will format for a reasonable fee. I did have a friend offer to format for me, but I had to look at the fact that she is incredibly busy with her own work, and I want this book to be the beginning of a series.

So ... I made the decision to take my work off of Smashwords, and put it up on Kindle, through their KDP program (a program that I swore never to use!). Largely because I already had a well formatted file, I was able to get my work up within twelve hours. Now I can make use of the KDP info that my sister headed me over to, and start promoting! For me,  this is a wonderful way to end the old year, and start out the new year. Hopefully in early January I will have my next book up - one on body/mind/spirit balance, and following one's life path with authority.

I do have two blogs that I would like to share this week - Spunk One A Stick's "People Skills For Writer's" (a heads up on her next book), and Monica Crowe's "Four Marketing Tips For The New Year".

Find out more about "Surviving the Holidays - Taking Charge of Your Life". If you like what you see, please "like" my book!

(c) December 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

A Writer's Life

 

Writing is certainly an interesting occupation! My first two books were compilations - one was for my Tarot deck and book reviews, another was for my Tarot interviews. Then I did an e-book on women in Tarot. These were all independent endeavors, through Lulu and Create Space. Then I approached Schiffer Publishing with an idea for a book ... and it was accepted! That was an amazing process ... one that I would have never made it through without the extreme patience of my editor, Dinah Roseberry! Then I decided to present a second idea to Schiffer Publishing, and that was accepted! I was totally elated both times ... I never expected either book to get off the ground with a brick and mortar publisher. Having gone through the process once,  this second time is a lot easier.

This am I got an e-mail from the marketing department at Schiffer, detailing the marketing process (my next book will be out in spring/summer of 2013). I am still in awe of the fact that  this is my work out there! This e-mail really made my day!

Then there is the ongoing process with my e-book on Smashwords. Still having formatting issues, although now we are down to the files that are related tot he table of contents. Also, I have still not been able to get hold of "Mark's List" - the Smashword's author's that offer formatting for a fee. Giving up on this one! I will be giving this one more go this coming Saturday ... if that fails, I have a friend who has offered to format for me, for a fee. I am amazed at the offer, as she is very busy both creating and promoting her own work. One way or another, my book is getting out on Smashwords! LOL Very determined Cappie here. It is a holiday based e-book (on surviving the holidays), so it is really too late for this year, but it is part of a series, so I will find some way to get a few sales.

I still have a mystery WIP, which seems to be taking a back seat right now. It will find its proper time! Then a friend and I are in the visioning stage of getting a self-empowerment book out there. We don't know how it will be published yet, but we are excited about it! And no, I am not going to talk about the focus just yet! 

Sometime in January or early February I should have an e-book up on Kindle. Maybe even through the KDP program, although I am not too sure about that yet! This one is also a self-help book - a kick starter for the new year!

I ran across an article this am that I would like to share. It presents a three step process for doing keyword research (a huge part of getting our work to the attention of targeted readers). You can read it here - A 3-Step Process For Painless Keyword Research. 

Off to do one of my favorite things - write my music blog for the week!

(c) December 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

e-Book Topics

Welcome to the world of e-books! Like myself, many of my friends are working on a shorter e-book project, while at the same time working on a (usually) longer major book project. Why do we do this? For me, is gives me short breaks from working on my WIP, allows me to research new material (which for me is fun!), and will hopefully bring in a bit of extra money.>p> Sooooooo … how do we go about picking a topic for this e-book that is going to bring us money? There is all kinds of advice out there on this. One piece of advice is never to focus your book on a specific holiday, or even on the holiday season, as this was limiting. It is limiting, yes, but it will sell during the time period that it is focused on, and will more than likely stay in your readers mind (MHO – no facts to back this on e up!).

The advice that I did feel worked was to focus on genres that sell well – romance, fiction, mysteries, and, to some extent, the paranormal. Go see what people are buying, then decide what in those categories you would like to write about. Writing should be fun – picking a topic and writing about it just because you think it will sell could very well turn out to be not so much fun. So pick a genre that sells, and find a topic that you resonate with.

How do we find topics to choose from? Like most things, e-book topics tend to trend. You need to know what people are talking about, and focus on that. Remember, though … pick a topic that you yourself can relate to! That will make you and your reader happy! An easy place to find ideas, and see how they are trending, is Clickbank (http://www.clickbank.com/index.html ). You can also use CB Engine (http://cbengine.com/ ).

Cheat a little … check out the Amazon.com Kindle bookstore (http://tinyurl.com/btjrodq ) and see what is there. Cheat some more … do a keyword search! Jot down a few topics off the top of your head that you think might sell. Using a keyword search tool, such as https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/ , put your topics in one at a time. You will be able to find out how many people are searching for that keyword each month.

The sky is the limit on topics for e-books. Winnow your topics down to ones that are relevant, that people want to know about, and that you can connect with as a writer. Your passion for writing, combined with knowledge of what people want to read, will open up a whole new world for you!

© October 2012 Bonnie Cehovet

Where Do We Go From Here?

Where do we go from here? There is so much out there about traditional publishing companies versus self-publishing - it really gets confusing. I am still trying to absorb a blog that a friend of mine just posted. They had originally self-published their work - a divination deck. Then they had a very viable offer to take their deck to a traditional publisher, and they accepted the offer. I was thrilled for them, and thrilled that my book was going to be published by the same publisher.

My friend edited their images, at the publishers request, to appeal to a larger audience. The whole framework of the project changed, but my friend was good with that. When their deck and book came out, it was so very beautifully presented, and I just knew that they would be taking off quickly! This was all several months ago, and it has not taken off. It is not in the bookstores that it should be in, and is not getting the promotion from the publisher that it should be getting. My friend put a great deal of time and energy into this project - which has now practically bankrupted them!

To top things off, software (and hardware) was stolen from their office - material that they needed to do their "9-5" work. This has still not been resolved. They are talking about leaving the field that they published in, which I feel would be a shame. They have great insight into the field, and a wonderful product that acts as a tool for empowerment on all levels. My prayers go out to this person ... may there be some justice in life, and may they see the benefits of their work. They have done promotional videos, blog talk radio spots, and created a stunning blog site. This cannot possibly be for nought!

I look at myself, being published by this same publisher. Then I wonder if all publishers are the same. I have seen my galley's, and they look wonderful! But the process has not been an easy one, and I have always felt/known that the brunt of the marketing was on me. Because of this, I feel that self-publishing is going to be my best bet. My publisher has first right of refusal for my next two books. After that - I think that self-publishing is my best bet. (Including publishing through Kindle.)

Where do we go from here? We make the most informed decisions that we can, map out a plan, and follow the plan. Life is getting scary, but I would rather be scared than remain in my little safe place, going nowhere.

(c) May 2011 Bonnie Cehovet