Adventures in Publishing

I'm determined to have Adventures in Publishing published and available at the CIPA show in March. Here's where I am right this second:

HELP! I MAY HAVE COPYRIGHT ISSUES


If your manuscript appears to contain images and/or pas-sages of text that are problematic during the pre-publication process, your Author Representative may mention potential copyright issues.

If your manuscript contains any images and/or text that you did not personally create as original material, you may not have the legal right to include such material in your publication. Such material includes lyrics to songs; excerpts from published stories, books, or poems; published and commercially produced images; images containing the likeness of someone you do not know person-ally (living or dead); and photographs taken by someone other than you or an immediate family member.

Writer's Digest Ad

April's ad for Writer's Digest is already due. They're that far out. This is a month Outskirts Press is running a full page ad. I've put it below, although I had to degrade it quite a bit so it didn't take forever to load.

We're also dealing with book review issues -- we use experts from CIPA for our reviews and they're indicating they can't keep up with the workload. We'll have to do something -- it was one of our promotions at the end of last year and those books are just starting to finish up. Plus, they have to review MY book. The review copies of Publishing Gems will be delivered early next week -- I probably didn't get enough, because in addition to the ones I need to send to all the usual suspects, I also want to try to get Colleen Cannon from Writer's Digest to provide a blurb (and possibly an intro. I may ask her), and Patricia at SPAWN, although I have communicated with her yet. Things to do this week...

Perhaps I'll hear from Dan, too -- I asked him for a testimonial on Friday and he seemed receptive to the idea. Plus, a writer at CIPA, who will be moderating a panel at this year's DIY Convention in LA received the pre-galley ebook file of Publishing Gems and asked if she could mention some of the Insider Tips to her audience. Of course.

Issues With Copyright

This is an ongoing problem that's worth mentioning. It's interesting to me that authors who would be extremely agitated if someone stole their work seem to have no problem "borrowing" the work of others.

Outskirts Press on a daily basis receives manuscripts filled with copyright infringements. It is our policy not to publish such material. We receive justification ranging from "Bibliography Use" to "Fair Use" claims -- but rarely hear arguments containing the flip side of the coin - the fact that copyright infringement is illegal and could ruin an author's reputation as well as bank account.

Why do colleges encourage this copyright infringement abated with their "bibliography" requirement, which then leads professionals to believe that they can copy as much of somebody's work as they want, provided they "reference" it within the form of foot notes or bibliographies. Perhaps for college papers that is true, but for professional works that are sold for profit, that is not allowed. This should be something professors and teachers inform their students.

I wonder if the POD guys have this problem -- or if they even care about it. Things that make you go hmmm...

Better Business Bureau

Outskirts Press is a member of the Better Business Bureau. Jeanine and I attended a reception last night to receive our Gold Star Award from the Denver Chapter of the BBB.

The Gold Star is in recognition of zero customer complaints.

Although, I have a complaint. Our award certificate wasn't there when we arrived. We were informed they would locate it and send it to us.

Hmmmm..... maybe I should complain to the Better Business Bureau about that.

Why Blogs Are Boring

Blogs are inherently boring by nature. If you have time to write in a blog, nothing very exciting is happening to you. On the other hand, if anything noteworthy is taking place, you probably don't have time to write about it.

That said, I'll try to concentrate on the overall weekly occurrences that transpire, rather than keeping the updates on a daily, chronological basis.

Re-Org

Some new hires and reorganizations have taken place this week at Outskirts Press. For those of us keeping score (probably just me), here's the new scorecard:

Brent - President/CEO/CMB
Jeanine - COO/BM
Lynn - CFO/BM
Tony - BM

Chris - Started as an author rep, and will still handle some of those responsibilities, although core efforts are now focused on marketing, both for the company and select authors/books.

Amy - Customer Service / Author Rep back-up

Vicky - Customer Service / Author Rep back-up

Mary - New hire, Author Rep

Deni - New hire, Author Rep

Professional portrait

My board advised me that I need a professional portrait taken. What? Don't they like my "perspective" shot (see right)-- you know, the one with the goofy grin. I'll look into getting one and my deadline is in time to place it on the back of the Publishing Gems book. The pre-edit galley draft when to the printer today and we'll be able to forward galley review copies to pertinent publications in time for them to consider a review before the book's official publication in April. I'm trying to have our Publishing Guide complete by then, too. The first draft was complete and all board members had a chance to provide their .02, but then we changed the orientation of Outskirts Press from pure POD to custom publishing with more flexibility. That changes much of the content (although much of it also stays the same -- we're just as advantageous as before, only more so. "More so" is easy to add to the book).

So, I mention both because I'm trying to aim for a synchronous publication because I allude to being the author of Publishing Gems on Adventures in Publishing, and I mention that I'm the author of Adventures in Publishing on Publishing Gems. It would be best to hit a window where both are true as fast as possible.

All this brings to mind one of the chapters of Publishing Gems, which is about establishing one's self as an expert. I'm trying to follow my own advice. Step one is writing the book. Check (almost).

Here's a tentative cover for publishing Gems. I think it's going to change a bit. The COO thought the "self publishing" part was too difficult to read. What do YOU think?

We're also going to change the title just slightly. The subtitle is Insider Information for the Self-Publishing Writer. Oooh... insider info. Very la-de-da!

Author Rep Training

The operating officer and I worked on the training manual today for the Author Reps. -- A CD full of contracts, emails, instructions, forms, and more that each of our Author Reps receive in preparation for helping authors through the publishing process. Only by writing down each step does one realize just how involved of a process this is. Each book must be tracked like a project, with nearly infinite variables, and an online and offline database are updated for the book and author. Our CFO is working on consolidating all the data into a SQL / Access database and that will be nice.

Speaking of which, she's also finalizing profit payments for our authors for 4th quarter 2004. It's always fun to see our authors money. It's nice to be in a business that is so gratifying.

Adventures in Publishing

Now that the Publishing Gems book is complete (I've passed it to our production department for interior layout and galley cover design), I've been able to focus more on the true Outskirts Press publishing guide, entitled Adventured in Publishing, An Interactive Guide to Publishing Your Book. Don't have a date on that, yet. Publishing Gems will have an official publishing date in April to allow enough time for reviews to be posted and published, but a sneak peek of the published book will be available at the CIPA college in March. I haven't decided whether to charge or give it away yet. I visualize the cover, and will be able to post the .jpg of it here, soon. Finally I've gotten ahead of the day-to-day concerns with the website, hosting, and production and have been able to concentrate more on the CEO's job -- building the company. These publishing guides are designed to do just that, as well as provide content fodder for other publications, websites, and newsletters. Thinking custom publishing? Think Outskirts Press. That's the idea, at least.

9 Steps for Plotting Fiction

Between a weekend of birthday parties and get the review edition of our Publishing book done, I haven't had time to post. Publishing Gems, Insider Hints for the Self-Publishing Writer is finished and will be printed for review copies this week. I'll send out the galley's to all the usual suspects and then work on the cover. We'll get the author proofs going for Writer's Digest 2004 winners, too, which we're publishing as part of our partnership and sponsorship. Here's a section from the book, about how to plot fiction:

NINE STEPS FOR PLOTTING A FICTION FOUNDATION


Start with a piece of paper. It should be large enough to write on. 8.5 x 11 is perfect. Draw two parallel lines both vertically and horizontally across the page, creating 9 comparable boxes, as if you were starting a game of tic-tac-toe. These boxes represent either chapters, scenes, or sections, depending upon your book’s intended length.

Number the boxes, starting from the upper left: 1, 2, 3.
Next row, starting from the left: 4, 5, 6.
Last row: 7, 8, 9.
Title each box…

Box 1) Triggering Event

First thing’s first. What happens? Why have you bothered to write a book, and more importantly, why should a reader invest time flipping through its pages. Your “triggering event” is the answer to those questions, so make it a good one. Also, don’t make the reader wait very long for it. First sentence, first paragraph, first page. These are good spots for a triggering event.

Box 2) Characterization

Generally, books succeed or fail on the strength of their characters more so than on the strength of their plots. While your protagonist may have been involved in the “triggering event” there wasn’t time in Box 1 to characterize him or her. Here’s where you explore what makes your protagonist tick. No, this isn’t an excuse for drawn out exposition, history, or back story. If your “triggering event” is captivating, the reader will discover enough about the protagonist in Box 2 simply by reading how he or she reacts to Box 1.

Box 3) First Turning Point

By now, your plot is picking up steam, and because of Box 2, the reader is invested in the ride. Time to throw a monkey wrench into the works. This turning point can be either a positive event for your protagonist, or a negative one, but it should be directly related to either a character flaw or trait your protagonist demonstrates in Box 2 (see, there’s a reason these boxes are touching one another – keep this in mind when you get to Box 6).

Box 4) Exposition

You’ve earned some time to fill the reader in on important data. Since this box touches Box 1, here’s where you shed some light on that “triggering event” and since it also touches Box 7, you get to foreshadow your protagonist’s darkest hour. In common cases, for example, Box 4 can reveal a relationship dynamic or a character flaw that contributes to the dark times in ahead.


Box 5) Connect the Dots

Box 5 represents the trickiest part of fiction, and is often where plots fall apart, or where authors experience massive writer’s block. Since Box 5 is the center of the book, it touches, and therefore must relate to, all the boxes around it. Kind of like a nucleus at the center of an atom bomb, Box 5 should tick systematically upon elements introduced in Box 2 and Box 4. And like the calm before the storm, Box 5 should give the false impression of resolution before heading like a freight train to Box 6. Most importantly, it needs to provide subtle, foreshadowing support for the protagonist’s revelation in Box 8.

Box 6) Negative Turning Point

Here’s where that atom bomb explodes and all hell breaks loose. It’s a shock to the reader, and yet, it makes perfect sense due to the foundation built in Box 3.

Box 7) Antagonist Wins

The protagonist is defeated here, and the antagonist is going to “win.” Even though the reader may have seen Box 6 coming, the protagonist didn’t=. How the protagonist deals with the defeat in Box 7 will depend upon the traits and/or story developed in Box 4, and will lead to Box 8.

Box 8) Revelation

Of course! The protagonist’s revelation turns the tide. Here is where the protagonist connects the dots here, just like the reader did in Box 5. Part of the fun of a great fiction novel is allowing the reader to be just one step ahead of the protagonist, who overcomes the obstacles in Box 8 via the devise introduced in Box 5.

9) Protagonist Wins

The “negative” turning point in Box 6 is rectified while the character’s resolve from Box 8 is brought into full bloom.

Congratulations! Another great tale told greatly.

Birthday

Oh, I forgot to mention. Wednesday was my birthday.

Pre-Pres Hustle

Trying to get some last minute releases and follow up conducted before the media blackout tomorrow when the eyes of the media will be focuses squarely on Bush, and not much else. I think we'll resend the release to select local media again next week. Today I personally contact representatives of our associations (CIPA, SPAN, SPAWN, and SPCO-OP). Three out of four contacted back and indicated they'd pick up the announcement. Didn't hear back from Small Press yet -- Haven't heard much from them at all, in fact. Good thing it was free to join them.

Also busy trying to supplement these others blogs so they work together. The Outskirts Press Blog at http://outskirtspress.blogspot.com will feature information and testimonials about our authors and their books. A little extra exposure for them never hurts.

Blog Results in Search Engines

So, Google owns Blogger. That must be why blogs don't appear as highly on Google as on other search engines -- which is kind of like cutting off your nose for two in the bush. This blog, after less than a month of posting, appears as number 6 overall on Yahoo when conducting a keyword search for Custom Book Publishing.

Yet, the same search doesn't reveal this blog in the first two pages of listings on Google!

Regardless, #6 on Yahoo is nothing to sneeze at, and I can presume the results of our other blogs-under-way will only help search engine matters. We've secured outskirtspress, self-publishing, on demand, and others on blogger, and each will be posted from various perspectives and additional commentary, insight, and possibilities toward promotion.

SEO W/ BLOG

Search engine optimization was one of the motivating factors for my taking the time and effort to start a blog for Outskirts Press.

It seems to be working. I've been posted 1-3 posts a day since January 4th (it's now the 19th), and this blog comes up number 6 overall on a Yahoo search for Custom Book Publishing based solely upon content.

The beauty of XML and other "feed" blogs is they generate links dynamically and automatically, one of the difficulties in creating valid search engine optimization for algorithms like Google.
Another advantage is that, while "Custom Publishing" was taken as a domain name, it was available as a sub-domain name for my blog. So were "self-publishing" -- a highly sought after position for our industry. Now it's ours and we'll soon contribute to that blog to create contextual search engine placement.

I'm contemplating open a general blog for all Outskirts Press authors so they can all log in and post their promotions, or thoughts, or feedback. While there's no shortage of positives for doing this, the potential negatives are making me think it out more thoroughly. For one, from what I can tell of this Blooger.com service, once a person has access, they can re-edit previous posts to their hearts' content. Fine for me since I like being able to adjust my typos, but bad if Joe Schmo logs in and places his post and then alters Jasmine's. I could program our own blog for Outskirts Press, and this may be ultimately what we end up doing so I can have full control over the look and functionality, but that's waaaay--aaayyy down on the to-do list.

Coming next, more tips on Blog submission, including a neat-o "ping" site that re-pings the feed with each update.

Why, yes, now that you ask, this is a publishing company, but a lot of the promotion for an internet site is technical, and blog readers are probably more technical that not, so as any writer knows, you write for your audience.

Further Press Releases

Press release distribution isn't a one hour (or even one day) exercise. More like one week. We're doing more on our Writer's Digest press release today. Plus we're prospecting new places to send it, like Publisher's Weekly and Foreword -- I know, I know, you'd think they'd already be on an Outskirts Press list

Also doing more blog stuff, and analyzing how it's helping our website search engine rankings. Looks very promising so far and future blogs will details successful steps I've take so far.

It's weird -- when you know people are actually reading this, you have a tendency to censor yourself. My first few posts I just let loose -- I've got to work to maintain that. And you definitely have a tendency to spell-check. Some errors in my first few posts continue to annoy me, and yet, I'm sure there will be more.

Press Release Distribution

It's a day of PR at Outskirts Press. Wide net release and more tactical distribution with personal follow-up for the local markets. Plus, applicable magazines such as Publisher's Weekly, Foreword, and others, and the usual suspects of writing websites.

I need to finish our publishing guide, but I can't motivate myself to do it today. Finally all the issues with website migration and pay-per-click problems have been resolved. Author's are joining are free writing community by starting their own Author's Center in record numbers. I'm contemplating whether I should add access to this blog for author members to see from the site. Then I might have to censor myself when it comes to discussing our strategic partners. Naaa.

Writer's Digest Press Release

It's going out tomorrow:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


WRITER’S DIGEST MAGAZINE PARTNERS WITH
OUTSKIRTS PRESS CUSTOM PUBLISHING FOR 2005 COMPILATION

January 17, 2005. Denver, Colorado and Cincinnati, Ohio – F & W Publications, Inc. and Outskirts Press, Inc. today jointly announced a 1-year partnership focusing on Writer’s Digest’s most established writing competition. Specifically, the 74th Annual Writing Competition Compilation will be published by Outskirts Press and made available for retail and wholesale distribution in November of 2005.

“Writer’s Digest magazine sponsors one of the oldest, most prestigious annual writing competitions in the country,” says Writer’s Digest publisher Colleen Cannon. “Winning this competition can help launch a writer’s career.”

Ms. Cannon believes the magazine’s partnership with Outskirts Press will help Writer’s Digest and its competition winners gain even more recognition. “The 2005 Compilation published by Outskirts Press will showcase our competition winners in a more significant way than ever before,” she says. “Broader distribution opportunities and aggressive marketing of the compilation will increase visibility of the Writer’s Digest brand in the publishing community.”

“Outskirts Press is excited to be publishing the 2005 compilation,” states Outskirts Press CEO Brent Sampson. “Not only is Writer’s Digest the premier writing magazine, but the 2005 publication enables us to demonstrate the advantages of custom publishing to our target audience – writers.”

Such advantages as single ISBN assignment and distribution via Ingram, Amazon, and elsewhere may target individual authors, but this 1-year partnership also demonstrates custom publishing’s business-to-business applicability. In addition to the 2005 publication and year-long promotion and marketing commitments via print and web, the deal also includes the retroactive publishing of Writer’s Digest’s 2004 compilation.

States Mr. Sampson: “By utilizing Outskirts Press services for previous contests, F & W Publications can re-open additional revenue streams and promotional opportunities. The republication of archived annual compilations requires no warehouse space, no inventory management, and zero fulfillment services. It’s a win for Writer’s Digest, plus previous contest winners will never be out of print again.”

About Writer’s Digest
Writer’s Digest, the world’s leading magazine for writers, is published by F+W Publications, Inc., one of the world’s largest publishers of books and magazines for enthusiasts. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, F+W employs approximately 1,000 associates worldwide and operates offices in Devon (England), Boston, Denver, New York City, Savannah, Herndon (Virginia) and Iola (Wisconsin). The Company’s publications target hobbyists and enthusiasts in categories such as writing, fine art, equestrian, genealogy, crafts, antiques, various collectibles, coins and the outdoors.

About Outskirts Press
Located in Parker, Colorado, and online at www.outskirtspress.com Outskirts Press publishes high quality paperback and hardback books for individual writers as well as businesses. Through its turn-key, customized book publishing services, Outskirts Press offers unprecedented power to the author, including creative control, pricing authority, and quantity influence.

Contact

Jeanine Sampson Outskirts Press, Inc. 10940 S. Parker Rd. – 515 Parker, CO 80134 OutskirtsPress.com

Tara Blom F & W Publications, Inc. 4700 East Galbraith Road Cincinnati, OH 45236 WritersDigest.com

Google AdWords

There are currently two major Pay-Per-Click players: Overture and Google. Microsoft will soon join the fray and, as a result, Overture and Google may need to reexamine its practices. But for the time being, they're apathetic about maintaining good-will with customers.

At least threatening to take away $20,000 in revenue is enough to earn a call back from a Google employee. That's saying something, right? And 2 quick minutes later, my previous week of frustration was resolved. Now, was that so hard? So, without further ado, here's Google's (apparently) "top secret" pay-per-click customer service phone number: 866-246-6543.

Imagine how much more business you're going to get, Google, now that people can actually call you. I'll contact you for my percentage soon.

Promoting the Blog

Lots of things on the to-do list for this week. First and foremost, I have to work on promoting this blog now that I have a few entries.

Also, we're sending out our press release regarding the partnership we've forged with Writer's Digest to publish their competition compilation. Then we need to locate a contractor company to conduct follow-up on that release. We'll send it via our international syndicate, but also fax blast the local media with phone follow-up to try and secure interviews or exposure on newscasts for Outskirts Press.

Our full page ad in Writer's Digest is due, so we'll examine the results of the full page that ran in January and February's issue and make some adjustments. The February issue just came out, so the results will be preliminary. It's like throwing pudding at a donkey (?) -- soon, there will come a time when affiliate marketing is common place in magazines like it is online -- and soon thereafter, results oriented marketing like pay-per-click campaigns will allow more accurate assessment of marketing initiatives. Whenever I've tried to introduce these concepts to old-fashioned magazine advertisers, they shy away from it. Well, no wonder! They know advertising isn't as effective as their prices make it out to be.

Does anybody know the customer service number for Google and Overture. We spend an atrocious amount of money with them each month and we don't have a way to talk to a human being. I'll be anxious for MSN to launch if, for no other reason, they may have the incentive to offer better customer service. So far, they both suck, but they're a necessary evil. Unfortunately, they act as if they know and believe that second part. I'd love to take my business from them.

Daily Frustration: See above.

So also on the to-do list is finding that contact information and resolving some last minute web host migration issues that are affecting a few of our key word clicks. Also to be fixed is the affiliate and pay-per-click cookie tracking. The new site didn't like my cookie coding, so we have to resolve that ASAP. This will get the affiliates working again and enable us to track the keywords we're using on our PPCs.

Our new brochures will arrive in the mail on Thursday and we're conducting some direct marketing mailings to our prospect list and the SPAN membership file.

I'll also investigate other opportunities of SPAN to time an article in their newsletter with the receipt of the brochures. Our full page ad in their directory is being published soon.

PMA will probably have to wait.

Wal-Mart Concept

The CEO of Wal-Mart recently wrote a letter addressing the public's perception of his company's employment practices. That letter then ran in the form of an ad in a number of national publications.

With that in mind, here's a similar slant addressing some writers' misconceptions about POD publishing.

Dear Writer:

Choosing the right words can be difficult. Thank goodness somebody invented the thesaurus. As a writer, I would be lost without it. The thesaurus is an invaluable tool assisting in the success of my craft.

When Peter Mark first published the thesaurus in 1852, die-hard dictionary-purists most likely refused to recognize its value. Now the thesaurus and dictionary coexist in harmony. No one thinks twice about using whichever one is appropriate.

It would be silly to enter into a debate about which one is better – the dictionary or the thesaurus. They serve different functions. If I want several definitions of a word, I’ll turn to a dictionary. If I want a better word, I’ll use a thesaurus.

Think of Outskirts Press as a thesaurus. Those big publishing houses in New York are the dictionaries. One isn’t better than the other – they’re different. But all writers, even dictionary-purists, would do well to consider using both.

Sure, I still reach for the dictionary. I personally submit every book I start to those “real” publishers first. I’ve started many books and received many rejection letters. I keep on trying, though, because I share that elusive dream of fame, fortune, and Oprah!

Guess what? I’ve never been accepted. Not once. I started submitting sample chapters with a synopsis when I was in ninth grade, and nearly twenty years later, I still submit sample chapters with a synopsis.

Picking up that dictionary is becoming increasingly difficult when I know a paper cut awaits me. Might be easier to start mispeling stuff.

I started Outskirts Press because I wanted a “thesaurus” for the publishing world. No, we’re not going to put the dictionaries out of business, as some other thesaurus’ would have you believe.

But we are helping writers get published, and we are helping them make money from their writing.

Most importantly, we are motivating them to continue using that dictionary in spite of the paper cuts.

It’s true that every book I’ve started, I’ve submitted to a publisher. But every book I’ve published, I’ve submitted to Outskirts Press. We will publish your book, too.

Sincerely,

Brent Sampson
CEO/President
Outskirts Press, Inc.
OutskirtsPress.com.

Back in the Swing of Things

Readers of my blog will know that this week has been rife with frustration surrounding our website migration. All big elements have been fixed (like .php files opening up in code in Netscape, for example, and pay-per-click links going to dead-ends, even though we were paying for them).

Now we're tightening the screws on small things like Author Webpage details. Outskirts Press offers a free webpage to every one of our published authors, and depending upon the package selected, they have up to 16 different styles and formats to choose from. Our Diamond authors even have webpages that include "Contact the Author" buttons as well as an "Other books by" section which grows as more of their books are published by Outskirts Press. Those two functions entails very specific coding on that section of the webpage since it obviously needed to determine the author's email address and or other books by that authors from within our database. But this morning we got that functionality back online.

Next week will be an exciting week as we distribute our Writer's Digest Partnership press release. Outskirts Press is proud to be the 2005 sponsor of their 74th Annual Writing Contest Compilation. The collection of winning entries will be published exclusively by Outskirts Press, which enables Writer's Digest to feature a full color cover, perfect bound publication rather than the 2-color, stapled booklet they've published in the past. It is my hope that other business recognize the value Outskirts Press can bring to their organization by leveraging our custom publishing techniques.
Not only is that my hope, it's my plan as we grow in 2005. In fact, Writer’s Digest likes the idea of opening an additional revenue stream and will be retroactively publishing their 2004 book through us as well. I'll include a cover shot here when it gets closer to publication.

Website Migration

A very frustrating week is coming to a close. Thankfully. Migrating websites from one host to another is such an enormous pain that it almost makes you want to stay with the bad host just to avoid the hassle. In fact, I'm positive many sub-par web hosting companies maintain their business simply because the webmasters don't want the hassle of moving their site to a better company.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we've moved the OutskirtsPress.com website a number of times as we've grown and learned what elements of a host are non-negotiable (customer service is number one in my book) -- it's something I've instilled in my company.

Unfortunately, as much as I'd like to "take my ball and go home" -- or, in other words, stop paying the previous host since we've now successfully completed the migration, I find myself wanting a complete back-up of the site on a different host entirely, just to avoid downtime (longer than the DNS switch takes, at any rate). So, not only was I not satisfied with their responsiveness, but I have to keep paying them just so we have a backup site. And yes, I finally remembered the bad host. NetInfoLink. Yes, you. Bad customer service haunts you.

I was out and about on business most of the week, which is the reason (but not excuse) for the poor posting performance this week. But now I'm back to the grindstone and back to my family. Isn't my boy cute?

That's a rhetorical question. Of course he is.

So, speaking of website migration, the difficulty with moving to another host was exasperated by the change in PHP versions. The new one has 4.0. I saved all our files in 3.0. So I had to rename all the files to 4.0, and then change all the links in the site to point to the new files. Not an easy thing. Relatively annoying, in fact. What's more perturbing, this only affected Netscape and Mozilla browsers. Explorer was fine.

Believe it or not, the live-chat customer service representative (let's call him... Frank) actually suggested this as a solution: Just tell all your visitors to use Explorer. They shouldn't be using Netscape, anyway.

So, yes, even GOOD customer service is remarkably bad.

But alls well that ends well. The site is fully operational now, even though we experienced a drought in terms of new business this week. That's what happens when a page is down or a graphic is missing. If you're asking an author to trust you with their manuscript and livelihood, your website has to demonstrate the highest degree of competence. I'm always surprised when I look at some of our competitors sites that they can manage to convince anyone to publish with them. If their website looks crappy, doesn't that reflect on the quality of the book they're going to produce?

At OutskirtsPress.com we're proud of the sophistication and intuitiveness we've brought to the site, and hopefully it communicates the quality of our work with publishing our authors' books.

Netscape & Mozilla

Sorry this post is so late and short. On a business trip but dealing with everything anyway. Why does PHP that works in Explorer not work in Netscape? Ack! Daily frustration: Everything. More later.

Why is PHP so fickle?

I'll be the first to admit that computer progamming is not my strongest suit. I've personally built the website for Outskirts Press out of necessity more than desire. Now that I have help with graphics and our current transition to a larger, more rubust SQL database that will be integrated off-line with Access, I'm still surprised by how like things likes "platform migrations" can alter a 100% fully-funtioning site into a pile of goo.

Said "goo" ocurred when the migration finalized (see my blog from two posts ago). Two things happened. For one, more than half our CGI programs began failing because I made an itsy bitsy error in the coding which, for some reason, was fine with the previous host but was unacceptable to this one (a later version of Perl, presumably.)

See if you can find the mistake from these 6 lines of CGI. (We had to find the error from among 2,000 lines):

-- well -- nevermind, this blog isn't going to let me cut and paste code in here.

If you said, "That 'at' thingy in the email address needs a 'slashy' thingy" then congratulations, you win.

So once we resolved that (and random other incongruities in some of the programs, that -- honestly -- didn't make any sense to me) in the 60 individual CGI programs used within the OP site, we were back in business, with the exception of mail function from PHP.

If I know this much CGI then I know this much PHP .

As a result, finding the error in the CGI was much simpler because my understanding was/is broader. I'm still trying to figure out the problem with our sendmail in PHP, and that's my daily frustration for the day. Yes -- I have one of those every day. Will I have a heart attack at 40 or 39? Any guesses?

So, in the interest of seeking help, here's the PHP problem:

info@outskirtspress.com>"; $subject="Outskirts Press - Thank you for registering!"; $mime_boundary="==Multipart_Boundary_x".md5(mt_rand())."x"; $headers = "From: $from\r\n"; $headers.= "From: $from\r\n"; $message = \n\n"; if (mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers)) echo "";?>

What to look for in a book publisher

Finding the right publisher for your book is an important element of success. Maybe these questions (and the answers that result from asking them) will help.

Regardless of whether you're electing the vanity printing route, POD publishing, or holding out for an old-fashioned publishing contract, here are 10 questions you should ask yourself, and then ask them:

1 - How much will it cost to turn your manuscript into a published book?
2 - What is the minimum number of books you have to purchase, and what does each book cost you?
3 - How much input do you have in the final design, layout, and cover of your book?
4 - How much input do you have on the content? Will it be edited to a point where even YOU don't recognize it?
5 - How will your book be bound? (Retailers typically won't stock books that are not perfect bound).
6 - Who determines your retail price? How much is it?
7 - Who determines your wholesale price? How much is it?
8 - Who determines how much money you make from each book?
9 - Do you have the ability to revise your book after publication? If so, how much does that cost?
10 - Do you retain all the rights to your book?

OutskirtsPress.com

Daily Frustration : Website hosting

Our website at OutskirtsPress.com has gone through three major renovations, and beginning this weekend will be hosted by its upteenth hosting company.

This is party due to growth, and partly due to web hosting incompetence. Why is finding a good web host so hard?

I designed the first version of the site in 2000, I think (hell, I can't remember) when Outskirts Press officially went "live" with that moniker. Prior to that, business was conducted through On the Outskirts, my off-shoot web design company. The first version of the site (below) featured many of the elements we still offer today, including a password protected "Author Center" for every one of our writers.

From my web design and hosting days, I was using a company that I liked a lot, and unfortunately, cannot recall the name of right now -- but right as I was launching Outskirts Press, they were bought by another company and their transition was very ugly. Sites were down for days on end, they had zero customer support, and I found the entire ordeal completely unacceptable. I supposed once they recovered from their transition, they would have returned to normal, but the ridiculous way in which they disregarded all elements of customer service vowed me off them forever. It taught me a valuable lesson about customers, though -- they can be fiercly loyal if you treat them right -- and vindictive to a fault if you don't.

So, in despair and desperate to replace my host quickly because my business was booming (ha! -- I didn't even have one book yet), I found some quickie fly-by-night operation who proved immediately that you often get what you pay for. In this case, their sendmail function didn't work with my CGI scripts, and since half my site was built around constant, automatic communication with the author, that was unacceptable.

Later, I discovered many hosting companies were having issues with sendmail because ISPs were shutting down that capability, or blacklisting many hosts, because sendmail was being hacked for aliases and spam. (Excuse me if I don't know the true technical terms for it -- but "pain in my ass" is technical enough).

At any rate, I ended up dealing with that frustration for nearly 6 months anyway, just because switching hosts is such a royal pain. Into the middle of 2003 Outskirts Press had published 10 books or so but the web hosting was still a royal case of annoyance. I started a year long account with NetFirms -- but their customer service sucked, too. My cousin generously offered to give me a great deal on hosting, but his Red-Hat based account experienced the same sendmail difficulties I was trying to avoid, so that didn't pan out, although I greatly appreciated the gesture, and ironically, even now I don't use sendmail via CGI -- but rather, had to teach myself PHP to solve the problem.

I switched to NetInfoLink sometime in 2004, near the beginning I think, but perhaps as long ago as Nov 2003. Right about then, we were switching the site again, with the intention of incorporating some automation and additional features in response to our authors. The template is below.



I liked NetInfoLink because it offered me a Reseller account so I could host not only OP, but also the other websites I was working on for a variety of other clients (including myself). The CPanel has some nice features. By and large, they seemed to be "up" more often than not, and for a while, everything looked good. But, halfway through 2004, the site dropped more than I would have liked and the consistency of the email started becoming suspect. There were times it seemed like we didn't get email and other times when the email flat out stopped working for 24 hours or more. Again, I put up with it longer than I should have because it's a super duper pain to move websites. Especially when they contain dynamic databases that authors can update themselves. Transitioning a live database from one host to another without losing data or causing "downtime" is quite a chess match.

Nevertheless, right about the time we were finishing off the third and final (so far) version of the site (below), I resigned myself to finding a better host - even if it meant spending more money. We were successful enough where a low monthly rate wasn't my top priority. My top priority was now finding a company that I could call during business hours and actually speak with a live human being (a luxury my last three hosts had not afforded).



And now -- today, and this weekend -- this long quest that began nearly 4 years ago is reaching a new milestone, and one that hopefully lasts longer than a year. Knock on wood.

Mascots are harder than you can imagine

Have you ever heard of the phrase herding cats? That's what it's like trying to get a consensus on a mascot. Our board of directors and COO both disliked the first attempt at a mascot, feeling the realistic nature of the suit and body failed to generate a personality. Here's another, more stylized attempt that we'll pursue for agreement on Friday and next week. But I'll unveil it here first. Thoughts?

As if I haven't said enough about distribution, here are some further thoughts. This is actually a portion of the e-Gems series, the mascot above for which will be the official... well... mascot. The article will also be a part of a publishing handbook that's in the works as we speak (write).

Enhancing Your Book Distribution Through Retail Margin
Part I

Retail margin is basically the difference between your book’s wholesale price and your book’s retail price. For example, a book with a cover price of $10 and a wholesale price of $5 has a 50% retail margin.

Wholesale price is what the wholesaler pays for your book. Outskirts Press uses the wholesale price to determine the selling price to its distributors like Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and others. For example, a book with a cover price of $10 and a retail margin of 50% will be sold to a distributor for $5.

Retail Price is the same as Cover Price or Selling Price. This is the cost of the book to the end consumer (the reader). The retail price is typically printed on the cover of the book and also “embedded” within the barcode on the back. For example, a book with a wholesale price of $5 and a retail margin of 50% will have a retail price of $10.

As you can see, retail margin, wholesale price, and retail price are interconnected. By having two figures, the third can always be calculated.

Outskirts Press introduces two concepts that piggy-back on the foundation above. The first is Base Price and the second is Book Profit.

Base Price is the minimum cost of each book to be produced. This is what authors pay for their books. Base Price is calculated most directly by the length of the book.

Book Profit is defined by the author as the amount of money he or she wants to make for each book sold. The difference between the base price and the wholesale price is the book profit. Outskirts Press authors keep 100% of the book profit.

By allowing Outskirts Press authors to define their book profit and retail margin, authors can instantly see what their wholesale and retail prices are. Understanding the difference between these terms, and how they are connected with one another, will help empower you to more sales with your book.

More About Frustrating Book Distribution

Since I mentioned Ingram in my last post I figured I might as well delve a little deeper into some of the growing pains that all POD and custom publishing companies are experiencing when dealing with old-fashioned corporations struggling under this new paradigm shift.

One of the advantages of POD is zero-inventory management that allows books to exist virtually rather than physically. Wholesalers, distributors, and even most bookstores seem to have a hard time getting their wits around the concept of a book that exists unless they hold it in their hand. I often wonder how these people own bank accounts, because the philosophy is exactly the same.

Mr. Book Bookbuyer, when your bank account says you have $5,000, those are just numbers. There isn't actually a little vault in the bank with your name that contains 5,000 crisp $1 bills. If you want that money, you have to request it from the bank.

Same thing with POD, and yet many retailers assume zero-inventory management is synonymous with no availability. It also doesn't help that distributors aren't doing their part to reeducate retailers on this new inventory model.

Up until 2nd Quarter 2004, Ingram printed "stock" copies of every Print-on-Demand book it handled, in order for online inventory management programs like I-page to list the book as available. I-page is used by Barnes & Noble and other bookstores to check on book availability. Unfortunately, most BN employees are conditioned to disregard a book that doesn't demonstrate a number higher than 5 or 10. And rather than "back ordering" a book "or special ordering it" they find it easier to tell the consumer the book is out of print. The problem is, POD books don’t "exist" in physical matter in quantities as high as 5 or 10 until they've been purchased.

Do you see the chicken and the egg thing happening here?

As if that wasn't enough, here's what then exasperated an already unwieldy problem. Ingram decided to stop printing stock copies altogether. There were simply too many books, even at only 1-2 copies apiece. As a result, some publisher's books began appearing as unavailable, at least, to the old-fashioned eye.

Fortunately, by March 31, 2005 (yes, the gauntlet has been dropped), Ingram (and presumably other distributors if applicable) will begin presenting "pseudo" inventory numbers to book retailers. Time will tell if this is an affective solution. Part of me thinks distributors and wholesalers are purposely being obtuse because it's been suggested that the Internet, direct retailers like Amazon.com, Google Print, and Random House going direct are all signs that the old fashioned publisher / distributor / retailer days are numbered.

Ingram Book Group

There are necessary evils in life. And in business. For Outskirts Press, our necessary evil right now is Ingram.

Daily Frustration: Ingram.

Picture a big yummy pie. You're hungry and you want it all to yourself. Unfortunately, your parents are making you share the pie with your siblings. You have two older brothers and a younger sister. The eldest brother is somewhat of a control freak and would normally divide the pie himself. But since you baked the pie, you get to take the first piece. You take as much as you want, realizing that the remainder has to be divided up among your brothers and sister.

Your oldest brother takes the remaining pie from you. He takes a piece and then hands the rest to your other brother.

Now, this brother is kind of a pig. He'd eat pie all day long if he could. He looks longingly at his brother's pie, and longingly at your piece. Then, before leaving the crumbs for your little sister, he takes nearly all of what's left.

As you see your little sister licking the bottom of the pie tie for morsels of crust and filling, you wonder to yourself if she would have received more if you had taken less. Or would your pig-of-a-brother simply helped himself to the extra, no matter how small of a piece you took?

Asking your brother that question is pointless. He was born without a tongue. Boy can he eat, though.

Kind of makes you wish you were an only child, doesn't it?

What do you think of this corporate mascot?

One of the secrets of any successful endeavor is discipline, so I'll make an effort to add to this blog twice a day, once during lunch time and once in the evening. (Stating your goals publicly is also a secret...)

Growing this company is filled with daily (ha! hourly) frustrations, so maybe here's something you'll see "blogged" from time to time:

Daily Frustration:

Our COO doesn't like the logo-treatment mascot our designers arrived at based upon my requests. I wanted to spark the current logo with personality and character within a manipulatable form, so "he" could perform a series of ongoing tasks on our website at OutskirtsPress.com and throughout many of our online and offline marketing initiatives.

What do you think of it? His name is "Gem."

"E-Gems" are the free tips, articles, and suggestions sent free of charge to writers and authors interested in learning more about publishing and promotion. It's currently a 20-week series, but will most likely be expanded. To subscribe completely free to see what I'm talking about, just send a blank email to egems@outskirtspress.com.

Insomnia & Workaholism

I'm an insomniac and a workaholic -- two traits that contribute to my productivity, but are also probably going to contribute to poor heatlh. So far I seem fairly healthy, although I have a sneaking suspicion I have Type III diabetes (if there even is such a thing -- Type II sounds too foreboding).

Fortunately, my 4-month son, Aidan, relishes my knack for staying awake with him at night. He's probably going to acquire carpal tunnel before he can walk since I work at the computer while he "punch punch punch kicks kicks kicks" in my arms. (Baby Experts call that "Active Alert" but it lacks the rhythm to say).

I'll probably post all the pictures we've taken here from time to time because I'm preparing to make a website. It's on my "to do" list, along with everything else -- all which needs to be completed "immediately."

Turning our trademarked logo into a mascot -- a la Wal-Mart and AOL
Finishing the edits and 2nd draft of our publishng guide
Writing the custom handbook
Compiling the e-Gem series into a published handbook
Canceling my book with iUniverse so Outskirts Press can publish my book of art and poetry the way it was supposed to be -- in color.
Making author orders automatic from our Author Center
Program a press release auto-generator
Finalize our ad for Writer's Digest's e-newsletter
Mention this blog site to all our current and prospective authors. What a tool!
Create Aidan's website <--- see, there it is.

More on all these items later...

What IS custom book publishing?

Everywhere you go, it's "custom" this and "custom" that. Now, finally, you can customize your publishing goals.

Custom book publishing empowers authors with custom pricing, custom quantities, and custom options. Plus, the writer keeps all rights and the book never goes out of print!

But what is custom publishing?

How does it compare to the old-fashioned business model of traditional publishing? Is it more user-friendly than self-publishing? Or less restrictive than print-on-demand?
Compare for yourself with the chart below. Publishing is an adventure, not a mystery. And your choice is clear.

Worried about your rights? Custom publishing allows you to keep all the rights to your work.
Worried about the contract? Custom publishing features non-exclusive contracts that allow you to pursue other opportunities at any time.
Worried about the high cover prices? The author determines the retail cover price.
Worried about distribution? Authors determine the Retail Margin, from 0% to 55% for distribution through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon, and more.
Worried about royalties? I don't know about you, but I'd rather not split my profits with any publisher. Custom publishing lets the author set their own Book Profit and keep 100% of it.