Writing for fun and profit…

well, at least for fun…

well, writing.

Chris E. StoutCenter for Global Initiatives & College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago

Before I started writing…

…and after.

Books, Books, Books….

Amazon Best Sellers Rank

Getting Started• Reviewing (nice way to start)• Scientific Articles – Publish or Perish

– Highly ranked, peer reviewed journals are the (academic) gold standard

– Dr. Kremer• Presentations => Publications

– APS chapter, papers…• Professional Magazines

– Modern Healthcare – Division 42– Illinois Psychologist(!)

• Freelance• Columnist

Getting Started• What I CANNOT tell you about

– Getting an agent– Pitching a manuscript

• Non-fiction– Never write first– Always contract first!

• Scientific first => pop book• Editing vs. Writing• Novels/fiction/screenplays

– Agent– Kellerman/Mayer

Contracts a-go-go or a-no-go?

• Advances/Royalties• Wiley vs. APA• Ownership• Right of first refusal • Contracts are negotiable• Control (ha, ha)

– Cover art– Ink color– Font style– Size/cut

• Sell by the chapter

Marketing Ideas

• Get “Names” to write your – Foreword – Afterword– “Early Praise”

• Surprisingly not hard• Past APA Presidents• WEF Founder• The trick?

– Ask!

The New Humanitarians

Oprah on line 1

• You may believe that once your book is published, your work is done. It’s not.

• It’s only the beginning. Here are 10 ways to get started:– Participate in online forums about

your book’s subject. – Ask colleagues, friends and book

bloggers if they would review your book. Don’t forget to offer them a free copy of your book.

– Create a mailing list composed of people who have shown interest in your work. Keep them informed about anything new that you’ve written.

– Go to Amazon Central to create an author profile so readers can learn more about you.

Amazon Author’s Page

Oprah on line 2

• Join social media sites and groups within those sites that might be interested in your book.

• Join APA’s media referral services. Be ready to define your specific expertise. Then, be prompt in returning journalists’ phone calls and helping them develop their stories.

• Issue press releases about your work. Don’t make the press release promotional. Instead, orient it toward stimulating the interest of a reporter or producer. You can write your own press release or purchase them from services that will also distribute them to the media (e.g., PR Newswire).

Website Marketing: Hard Core

Website Marketing: Soft Core

Talks

• Venues for Sales– Public Libraries (email me for a list)

– Barnes & Noble– Colleges– Organizations

• Div 42 @ APA

• Venues for Opportunities– Schools/PTAs (consults/referrals)– Houses of Worship (referrals)– Professional (academic currency)

Self-Publishing: Blog

• Blogging– Aim for keywords that solve problems

(“how to deal with a passive-aggressive husband”)

– Provide tips that deliver (“10 tips for helping your kid get better grades”), or

– Answer intriguing questions (“why don’t men live as long as women?”)

– Check out the keywords if you’re contemplating using Google’s keyword tool - adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. There you will discover how frequently people are using those particular words to search for that topic.

– You don’t have to choose the most popular keywords, but you certainly don’t want to choose one that hardly anybody’s using.

Self-Publishing: Article Banks

• Article banks will provide you with international exposure, credibility and traffic back to your website.

• Popular article banks: – ezinearticles.com– self-growth.com – article alley – Huffington Post– Squidoo– eHow (pays for your content)

Self-Publishing: Books

• Print-on-demand (POD) technology, copies of a book are not printed until an order is received. – Services: proofread and edit your

manuscript, – index and design your book, – create a book jacket, – provide you with an ISBN

(International Standard Book Number), – put your book into distribution, – take care of order fulfillment, publicity

and marketing services.

Self-Publishing: Words of Caution• They frequently overcharge• Sell unnecessary services and • Overstate what they will do. • You may be seduced into spending

many thousands of dollars to get your book printed and distributed. And that’s without any marketing or publicity services.

• So, be an educated consumer, know what services you need and know what those services should cost. Then you need to comparison shop. There are lots of companies out there and the pricing of their packaged plans frequently change.

Self-Publishing: eBooks• Books that are published in digital format can

stand on their own or be another edition of a print book.

• Though eBooks do not have the panache of a paper book - you can’t display it in your office or offer a copy to a valued resource - they can still be a powerful resource for you.

• One advantage of writing a mini eBook is that you can quickly hitch on to the high profile news of the moment, creating a ready-made marketing hook.

• Make sure that your e-Book is professionally formatted so that it doesn’t look like an amateur production.

• Smashwords will format and distribute your eBook for no up-front costs (they take a small percentage of each sale)

• One additional advantage to eBooks is that once they’re produced, there are no additional printing or shipping costs.

• Hence, they can be great bonus gifts for people who visit your website and display an interest in your services.

Self-Publishing: Amazon's

CreateSpace • Their printing costs are the lowest, • Their shipping charges are free, • There are no initial set-up fees, and • They offer a non-exclusive agreement that

keeps your future publishing and distribution options open.

• They have Kindle distribution so your book, once converted, can be published as an e-Book as well.

• ProPlan is $39– Larger royalty, receive reduced printing costs

and gain access to an expanded distribution channel.

– Almost all authors need some self-publishing services (editing, formatting, book design, cover design, marketing and publicity) and Create Space offers them - for additional fees or you can do them your self and then use CreateSpace to publish and distribute your book.

Amazon's CreateSpace

Contemporary Psychology

In closing…

• SourceBooks• Blurb/Lulu• Contemporary Psych

invite• Gifts…and thanks!