Hey Big Oil, Are You Listening?

A video was launched on YouTube challenging Big Oil to lower their prices over the summer months. This is a movement to get Big Oil and other companies to help the economy by giving up some of their outragous profits by giving back to their consumer base. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6F6r9gtHEs

Self Publishing Pit Falls

Many companies have realized that people’s egos always want to be satisfied and publishing a book is no different.  However, the main item they do not offer a person is the marketing of the book, for example:  Amazon offers a service for publishing books through Print on Demand (POD) and through their Kindle eBook system.  Granted, they are the biggest retail store on the net for books, but that means absolutely nothing if people don’t know your book even exists.  That’s where the marketing abilities of a publishing house come into play.  They know where to send someone’s book to get exposure, which then turns into sales because people know the book exists.  Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean a million dollar seller, but it does give you a better chance at having sales.

This is one of the critical aspects of working with a publishing house, and why in due time, self publishing companies will ultimately kill themselves.  People will always believe that their book is the greatest on the market and should be bought by everyone, and it is that reason that companies will always provide them with an opportunity to pay for that book to be published.  The down side is that when that person is left with a bad feeling and rejection because their book didn’t sale millions, they will not write another book again.  It’s that second or third book, or even the 100^th that may be the million dollar seller, but it will be lost as it never got a chance to be written thanks to the greedy aspect of self publishers.

Do yourself a favor; go through the trials and tribulations of sending your book out to the hundreds of publishing houses that do exist.  This will help you to grow as a writer and in time, you will find one that will help you refine your skills and help you reach your dream of being a Great writer.

The Death of Book Festivals

The Internet has created a wonderful influx of new books, ranging from great must reads to some that should never see the day of light.  So with all this material that is now available, one begins to see the end of book festivals in their normal state.  Each book festival clamors for entries into their event of those who sale thousands of books, usually that means big publishing firms that have the marketing budget to convince people to buy their book.  Sadly, as we are seeing these days, not all of them are worth buying.

Gone are the days when someone who is unknown could enter a book festival, win an award, or even be invited to attend the event because of the quality of what they wrote.  If the publishing company does not have a marketing budget set up to help lure people to a festival, then they are not invited to participate.

The need for book festivals to make a profit from year to year has increased especially since the hard copy of a printed book is becoming less and less.  Add in the fact that authors can now do video lectures and even some book signings, people no longer have a desire to attend a book festival as they once did.

This decrease in participation and need to turn a profit has in effect created the death of book festivals.  A new way of helping get the word out about a new and talented author must now take on a new shape and focus.  What that will be is still to be seen.  YouTube, Tweeter or some other form of web communication will come into play which will then finally put the last nail in the coffin for book festivals.  Unless book festivals can keep up with the new technology, by being creative and most importantly by being a valuable source for readers and authors combined, and not about the almighty dollar.

Will that actually happen?  We will have to watch and see.

Until then,

Alan

Realtiy Show for Authors

There are a ton of reality shows in the airwaves, enough to make you sick, so why would I consider adding one more.  Simple; Authors help shape the world.

My team has been working on creating a reality show for non-published authors who are willing to have their work critiqued by the masses, and to allow the masses to say yes or no to having their work published.

While we are still in the planning stages, we would like to get the word out about the concept and have authors tell us what they think the show should be like.  How can we give the world enough drama while keeping it real, honest and with a positive message?  Feel free to send your suggestions to: FFTBooks@live.com.

Cheers,
Alan

Road Rage Issues

We are always looking out for books that help society grow in a positive way.  Recently I was introduced to a new blog "Road Rage Issues" written by a bus driver in Austin, TX.  He is working on his first book about being a public city bus driver and the various adventures that can and do happen on his bus.

The blog site is as he puts it:

This is an attempt to make productive use of the rage we all feel while driving. I hope to use this space as a way to write things I am feeling and to spread the word about road rage issues. We all experience them in different degrees, so I want to help myself and others deal with them. I am writing a series of books to deal with my own "road rage issues" and want to share some of that with you all. I hope you will join me on this adventure and we shall see where it goes.

We ALL experience more road rage then we should these days and that is simply due to our fears about how the world is; not safe, not enough income, the bleak future that too many of us see for ourselves, and so much more...  I hope you will use the blog to let out some of your frustrations with road rage in a healthy manor.

Cheers,

Alan

Groupon - No Thanks!

Customer Service is a major factor for us at CHIP.  We do as much as we can to make sure the customer gets what they ordered and have a great experience.  Sadly at times that may not happen and we do what we can to fix it.  I expect the same from other companies that I work with.

Groupon however, does not seem to feel that customer service is necessary for them.  It's bad enough that they are ripping businesses off by charging such a high fee for their service.  But when you contact them, their attitude is really poor.

In recent communications with them, they couldn’t even get one of my staff members name right, not even once.  Then to top it off they served us attitude in their email. 

Look, the economy sucks right now and every business needs to go the extra mile to get and retain customers.  If you are not willing to go that extra step, then you don’t need to be in business.  It’s really very simple and clear.  Groupon lost our business because of this.  Look for us soon on Living Social and Facebook.

Cheers,
Alan

Ways to Publish

There are two basic ways to get your book published and I will highlight each of them below:

1 – Traditional publishing.  This is where you send out a few chapters of your manuscript, along with a cover letter and a synopsis of the book to a publishing house.  You wait anywhere from 3 months to 6 months for an answer, and about 99% of the time, it will be a No Thank You response. 

2 – Self Publishing.  This is when you hire a firm to publish your book.  Rates can range from $100 up to thousands of dollars.  It all comes down to how much bells and whistles you want with your book and how much you can afford.  By doing this, you are automatically placed as a lower class of book.  “If you could not get a publishing contract somewhere, then chances are pretty good your book is not up to par,” is what book stores and the industry feels about self publishing.  Add into the mix that too many ‘ego’ publishers simply want to make money from the fees as they know that your books chances of selling are extremely small.  Even book stores will only take your book on consignment as they know that the chances of making money on your book are extremely small.

So what do you do?  It really comes down to this one simple question; Are you willing to give up everything to get your book published?  If you are willing to work day and night, risk alienating your family and friends, lose money up front, and willing to spend more money down the road, than keep at it.  Keep sending out those letters to a traditional house until every single company has received a letter from you. 

The only reason to go to self publishing is your ego!  You are a number to them, and all they want to do is make money off of your ego.  So even though the initial amount of money sounds fair, they will come back to you time and time again asking for you to upgrade for this service and that.  It’s not worth it.

There is an alternative.  When most people think of publishing houses, they think of New York City and all the big houses there.  What about the small publishing house?  There are thousands of them available around the country.  There are pros and cons to them as well, but they can work with an author one on one, where the big houses will not.  Plus, authors who have shown talent in a small house get noticed by the big houses who then come along and buy their contracts, or give them new ones.

With a small house, they may not be able to spend the thousands of dollars on marketing, but they know where to use their money in the best way.  They can suggest a lot of ‘out of the box’ thinking to help market the book and the author.  In many cases, a small house will be willing to work with the author by sharing the cost of a marketing plan, in exchange for a higher royalty payment, or other forms of payment.  It’s that one on one working relationship that makes a world of difference to the new author.  They learn from the experience on many levels, which helps them grow as a writer as well.

When working with a small publisher, your book sales may not be as high as you had dreamed of, but is it really about the money, or the craft?  If you are about the money, then don’t waste their time, stay with a big publishing house.  If it is about the craft, then a small publisher is the ideal place to go.  Build on the craft and one day, the money will flow freely to you.

Hope this helped.

Cheers,
Alan

Congratulations to:

Congratulations to Jonathan Amaret for receiving an “Honorable Mention” in the New York 2011 Book Festival for his new book, Rominus.  And this book was turned down by the Texas Book Festival...go figure...lol

Congratulations also goes out to JB Terry-Smith for receiving a Community Achievement award in Washington, D.C.  His book, I Have a Secret is doing very well in the DC area.

Creative House Press is proud to help support our Authors in their endeavors both personally and publicly through donations and other programs.

Cheers,
Alan

Children's Books

Children love a good story, especially when it is read to them by their parents.  At Creative House Kids Press we really try to bring fun and educational stories to life.  We work with a variety of Authors and Artist to create a wonderful tale.

This year we have brought Christmas/Holiday stories to life with Snow Globe Memories.  Halloween comes to life with When Bad Gossip Goes Good. Plus fun books like Cents of Humor; Penny Jokes and The Purple Power Cats Ventures, The Purple Bull and the Dr. Jim series of books.

Our educational books include My Favorite Book and The Family with Many Colors. 

We help bring family stories to life with Panda Bear Meets his Family, Po & Me, Special Comforter and Tipped Over Grandma.

We even have stories about self love with It's Tough Growing Up and The Boy Who Hated Being Black.   Plus much more in our great selection.

Most all books are available not only in Paperback, but also on Apple's iPhone and iPad.

We hope you enjoy reading some new classics.

Cheers,
Alan