How Digital Are Your Books?
Babette Pepaj, Julie Spira, Brian Felson, and Kevin Winston
It was an honor and pleasure to be a panelist at the Digital LA Books Go Digital Panel held at The Churchill in West Hollywood.
Moderated by Digital LA’s founder Kevin Winston, I was joined by Babette Pepaj of Bake Space and creator of CookBook Cafe and Brian Felson, CEO and founder of BookBaby.
A lively discussion included how to build your platform through social media, advances and royalties, Amazon’s Singles, and ways to self-publish your book. As an author of a book whose sales on Kindle are at a 3:1 ratio compared to the paperback edition, I was happy to share Kindle’s 70% royalty rate to authors who sign up directly with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service.
Whether you self-publish or have your book traditionally published, you must have a digital online strategy. For my first book, I offered two free chapters on my website and wrote daily on my blog to create buzz for the book. For my second book, The Rules of Netiquette, I created two websites and am offering a free chapter to download with 200 Acronyms.
Babette gave demos of CookBook Cafe, their new free iPad app which will allow you to publish your cookbook on their digital bookshelf. Anyone can download the app for free. You can charge for your book or provide your favorite recipes for free.
Brian explained BookBaby’s revenue model costs $99 upfront which will give you an .epub and .mobi version of your content. After the first year, with an annual fee of $16.95 after the first year. BookBaby gives 100% of the royalties they receive to the authors. This is a terrific way to distribute your books if you own the rights and appear on multiple platforms including Barnes and Noble’s Nook, Amazon’s Kindle, iBooks, Sony Reader store, and more.
At the end of the digital day, you must have an electronic strategy as an author, publisher, and content provider.
Julie Spira is a social media strategist and CEO of Social Media and More. She’s a bestselling author and works with writers and authors on how to create a social media marketing plan to become successful with their books. Visit SocialMediaMore.com and like us at Facebook.com/SocialMediaAndMore
Book Savvy Conference for Writers – Social Media and Promotion
BOOK SAVVY 2012 Sunday,March 4th
On Sunday, March 4, 2012, join me at Book Savvy 2012, a full day of book promotion, social media marketing, publishing and publicity options in Los Angeles.
This annual event, produced by the Los Angeles chapter of the Women’s National Book Association will help aspiring writers and published authors learn everything they need to know to be successful in the digital age of publishing.
It’s an honor to be the moderator at the first session in the morning program, Book Promotion and Publicity, where you’ll learn how to become a professional speaker; the art of social media for authors including Twitter, Facebook, blogging, Google+ and Pinterest; how to promote your book and brand; and learn about using video for book promotions and trailers.
The panelists include:
- Liora Mendeloff, founder of Women’s Speakers Association
- Erin Reel, writers coach and editorial consultant
- Lon Levin, an expert on book trailers and promotional graphics.
Our panel will be held at 9:15am – 10:15 am.
Other sessions include:
- Pre-Program Pitch Prep Session, 7:30am – 8:30am (*$25 extra)
- Learning to Self-Publish, 10:45am – 11:45am
- Lunch, 12:00pm – 1:30pm
- Pitch Your Book to Agents & Producers, 12:30pm – 1:30pm
- Literary Agent Panel, 1:30pm – 2:30pm
- eBooks and Apps: Where Technology and Publishing Intersect, 2:45pm – 3:45pm
The event will be held at the Marina del Rey Hotel, 13534 Bali Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292. Parking is free at the event and includes a light breakfast, coffee, snacks, and Italian buffet lunch, and dessert.
Register now at wnba-books.org/la
Follow Julie on Twitter @JulieSpira and at Facebook.com/SocialMediaandMore
PICK MY BRAIN!
Have a question about Social Media? I'll critique your site or blog, take a quick peek at your social media, and give you my expert opinion. Get 20 valuable minutes of my time to ask me anything.
CONNECT WITH US!
