Trust the Experts- Self Publishing Mistake #1

A common error that new authors make when working with a ghostwriter or graphic designer is that they don't trust their opinion. This can be costly both upfront and in sales of your book.

When you hire a ghostwriter, you are buying their expertise. They have written and ghostwritten a number of books, and should know the tricks and pits of the trade. They know what sells, and what is cliche.

I try to produce what my clients want, but I also try to guide them through the process. Many authors have strong feelings over cover design and titles. In the world of traditional publishing, authors do often get a choice- a publisher chooses both the title and cover design, sometimes with little or no input from the author. Why? Because a publisher is in the business of making money and they know what sells. They are investing in the author to produce the book, and they want to be sure it sells. They will also have a strong influence over the content and editing of a book.

When a person decides to self- publish, they have all of the control, but that is not necessarily a good thing. They might have a great story concept, but that is not enough to sell a book. They must have a kick ass title and cover to attract consumers. Books are indeed judged by their cover- that is why we still have brick and mortar bookstores. People like to browse shelves and when a cover attracts their attention they will pick it up and flip it over.

A self published author will often hire experts that can write, edit, and design their book, however at times they cannot get out of their own way. They have strong opinions even when the expert they have hired tries to dissuade them. An expert not only has skills and experience, they have perspective. They can look at the book with a trained, objective eye and give advice.

No expert is 100% correct, but if someone hires one.they should at least trust and listen to what they are saying. If a cover concept does not work, the author should take a breath, step back and seek counsel on it. That does not mean friends and family. You need colleagues and professionals that are not afraid to tell you the truth.

In the end, the author must decide on all things if they are self publishing, but if the title is not catchy or is too cliche or clever, people will roll their eyes, but they will not usually buy. If the design is wrong, it may look unprofessional and again a person will pass on the book. If a person opens a book it looks like a document from MS WORD, again the book will not make it.

Authors work hard to earn their money. When they are self publishing, they are making the investment. If you had heart surgery, you would not tell the surgeon how to do it. If you needed repairs on your car, unless you are a mechanic, you would not tell the repair shop how to build and engine. In both cases, you would pay money for their expertise. Why not in book publishing?

The Coolest Gadget

The Coolest Gadget

Delivered to my hands, my wife gave me the coolest gadget three years ago. I did not know just how cool this technological marvel would be, I only looked down and was in awe.

This gadget has gotten more sophisticated and wondrous over time. It upgrades constantly, especially when it is in sleep mode. Every day, the coolest gadget shocks and surprises me. How could such a perfect gadget exist? It is so sophisticated and its inner workings are still a mystery to even the smartest scientists. Its memory capacity is endless, and the more it interacts with its environment the smarter it becomes.

If I were to write a review about my gadget I would say that at times it can be very loud, that it spontaneously goes into sleep mode, and that it eats up energy like crazy. The longer I have it, the more energy it requires, and if its energy restores are not immediately refilled, it becomes very loud and most other functions become inoperable.

It does require constant maintenance and attention, as it is very fragile and they have not created a functional shell that will protect it from falls. Its upkeep is at times expensive, and over time that cost goes up, but it is totally worth it.

Unlike other gadgets, phones and computers, the coolest gadget brings joy and newness to every day. I cannot wait until I am finished with work every day to play with it. I take it everywhere I go, and everyone loves to comment on my cool gadget.

Proudly I smile as people guess how old my gadget is, as they always assume it is older that it is. People say, “It seems like such an advanced model. It is so sophisticated for such a young model, and it seems like it is quite a handful.”

“You have no idea,” I smile.

He always distracting me while drive with incessant questions, and he has programmed himself to be funny. I do not have fear of breaking laws concerning talking and driving, but he is not quite hands free quite yet. He still requires my hand when we cross the street.

I may not have the only model of my coolest gadget in existence, but each gadget is individually made with love. I do not exactly own my gadget; in fact, it owns my wife and me. We share the gadget with one another and with the world. It makes me upset when I see other people’s gadgets neglected, or hurt. These gadgets have lifetime contracts. We cannot trade them in, or cancel our contract because we claim we are bored with them. How could my coolest gadget ever be boring or worthy of anything less than my best?

My coolest gadget does interact with other gadgets and actually seeks out them out wherever we go. It is fun to watch the interactions and the learning that occurs between the gadgets. While my gadget is only three years old, the existence of similar gadgets have existed since the beginning of time. 

It is sad because one day my gadget will get too old and will go out into the world to learn on its own. I had two other cool gadgets before my current one, and they both left too soon. My current gadget is a different model than the first two, it has different hardware, and there is great debate about other differences between the two models. I believe both offer the world so much, and their differences are beautiful and powerful in their own ways.

The two most memorable days so far have been the day my coolest gadget upgraded to independent mobility and the day it began mimicking sounds and words. Since those days, my coolest gadget has not stopped moving or talking.

My gadget has this superpower of making me cry with happiness. It is this starburst in my chest that occurs when he does something amazing, or says something so clever and funny, it makes me ponder the true existence of God, because only something greater than anyone here on Earth could have conceived of something so divine.  

There is one word it learned a couple of days that I will never tire of hearing it repeat- Dad. My coolest gadget is my son. He trumps any technological wonder that has or will ever be created by humankind. He is a perfect machine, conceived with love and he has a heart made of gold that makes the entire world around him glow.

If you ever see my cool gadget somewhere, be sure to say, “Hi Max.” and he will reply, “So what did you do today?”

What did I do today? I got to be a dad to the best son in the world. I love you Max. 

The Five Ways to Publish Your Book

Fellow NSA member and Facebook friend, Deborah Grayson Riegel, posted a question of whether she would self publish or traditionally publish her new book. She has published through both channels with different books she has written in the past.

I mentioned that it is harder and harder to justify traditional publishing, and there are new avenues and ways of publishing. I decided that instead of creating a giant Facebook reply, that I would just blog it.

1. Trad or Traditional Publishing

These are the big 5 publishers and all of their imprints:

Penguin/Random House
Harper Collins
Macmillan
Hachette
Simon and Schuster

These are the great monoliths of the book world, although some might see them as great dinosaurs. There are some advantages to using one of these titans such as the fact someone else is doing all of the steps of publishing your book. (minus marketing). There is some status and credibility of having your book published by a trad publisher, but there are a number of published authors leaving these great houses and plodding off to publish their future books on their own.

There is the mythic advance. These used to be a nice check that got you going and allowed you to eat while you finished your manuscript and the book began to sell. Not any more, as most advance checks are usually in the three or four digit range rather than a coveted five or six digit sum.


It is often who you know, not the merit of your book that will get it looked at by a publisher. I recently heard of an author offering a backstage entrance into trad publisher for his friends. While there is no guarantee that the book would be picked up, it does jump a lot of hoops that most other authors find frustrating or even impossible.

If you are not a celebrity, you should not even think of approaching a trad publisher without an agent. Some publishers will not even accept query letters that are not agented. Obtaining an agent is again who knows who game. It is very hard to secure one, and it can take months of hundreds of rejection letters to get one- "Yes I am interested, send me a proposal."

You have to know how to craft a great query letter, and proposal to have a fighting chance, and if you don't have the skills, you would do best to hire a professional to help you.

I work with speakers exclusively, and most of time they need their books available yesterday. Trad publishers have lead times to a book being in your hand from 12- 24 months. Can you wait that long?

Your royalties on a trad published book are a little sad. On an average priced book you may get around $2.00 per book. Granted, you MAY sell 20,000 books. But what if you don't? There is talk that trad publishing companies are beginning to ask for advance checks to be returned if the book does not sell well.

Imagining spending sleepless nights coming up with a cover design and title for your book, only for an editor to say, " We have decided to go a different direction..." The problem is, you have no control- you have signed over the rights of your book.

It's not always a bad idea- consider the fanfic piece called- Master of the Universe by Icequeen's Dragon. 

A smart publisher changed it to- 50 Shades of Grey- by E L James (true story).

The other issue about the sales of your book is - what about your second book? If your sales are not where the publisher wants it to be- they will kill your book which essentially kills any further books you might want to publish.

In ANY of the publishing routes I want to stress that YOU will be doing a lion's share of the marketing. This takes time and money- so be prepared. Books don't sell themselves. If you do not have the skills- hire a good publicist and/or a marketer. Nothing worse than a great book that collects dust because there was no plan to sell it. Trad publishers look very closely to marketing plans in proposals.

2. Small Press

These are the little brothers and sisters of trad publishers, because their model is similar, but on a much smaller scale. Here is a link to an exhaustive list of  small press publishers- https://www.pw.org/small_presses?page=6

The advantages here are that you can send direct submissions without the need of an agent.

Like a trad publisher- they do all the work concerning getting your book ready for print and do the printing for you. Some small press have advances, but these can be token in size. You still have the advantage of being published by a publisher- and hence the bragging rights.

Not only do you not need an agent- most agents will not submit to small press publishers- because they will not make the money they need out of a deal- which often comes from the advance check.

Like trad publishers, they can have a long lead time to print. In fact, many small press publishers only publish a few books a year and so the process can be even slower.

Again you do the marketing and there is little profit. You give up control the same as you do with trad publishers and you may get stuck in the same book two conundrum.

3. DIY ( True Self Publishing) 

This is the DIY self publishing option. You can publish through many channels such as:

• Create Space
• Lightning Source
• Book Baby
• Smash Words
• Apple Istore
• Scribd
• Barnes and Nobel
• POD
• Book Printer

This is a huge step away from trad or small press publishing. You have total control of everything. You own the rights to your book.

The only thing stopping you from publishing your book is YOU. There is no real lead time- once you have the book ready to print, you submit it and it magically appears. You can even sell it through your own website.

You make changes and updates relatively easy. If you have you book in electronic form you can even publish it through Revizzit.com This site allows you make changes to all the electronic books you ever sold in real time.

The best thing about DIY publishing is that your profits can be in the 60%-70% range.

If you do not have the knowledge or skills to do DIY publishing this can be difficult and actually hurt your credibility. You are better off not publishing a book than to publish a poorly produced book. Publishing takes time and that can actually take away from your time actually writing your book. There are many mistakes that can be make along the road of publishing and some of them can be costly such as a poorly created cover or amateur book layout.

You will be paying for many of the services that a trad/small press would be paying for such as the cover, interior design and printing. Some believe that the DIY stigma is a thing of the past- and while it has been greatly reduced, the issue is that many self published books are done cheaply and it shows. It is more about the finished product than who published it that can really affect a author's credibility.

In the arena of professional reviews- it is much harder to get your book reviewed. Not impossible, but without knowledge in this area it can be very difficult and there are some avenues that you would need a good publicist.

4. Partner Publishing-Hybrid

Partner publishing is somewhere in between Trad and DIY. Some examples of partner publishers are:

• She Writes Press ( For Women only)
• Book Trope
• Wise Ink
• Ink Shares ( a Crowd Funding/Publisher)
• Turning Stone Press
• White Cloud Press
• Green leaf Publishing
• Estrucan Press

This type of publisher still has to accept your manuscript- however they offer all types of services such as editing, proofing, help with cover, and more. All of this has a price. It can vary and you may need to shop around a bit.

The good news is that you retain control over the rights to your book. They can provide you the expertise you need to create a professionally manufactured book- and they can produce your book quickly in most cases. This frees up your time to write.

One of things that Partner publishing does help with is distribution and marketing. These two things are HUGE if you want to sell your book for a passive book rather than just hawking them at events for back of the room sales. Remember, no matter what you will have to invest in your marketing.

One the flip side, there are no advances, you are paying for the services. These do save you time, and money in the long run and greatly increase your ability to create a great book on your own.

5. Assisted Publishing

This best describes my company Osiris Papers. This is a another step away from Partner closer to DIY, You have control over your book, you own the rights, and you do the tasks you wish to on your own. You hire professionals to do the tasks you feel would free up your time or in an area you have less skills in. Time until production is reduced, because many of the components are taken care of by professionals for you- IE. cover, interior design.

Since you have complete control over the process you can make changes easily.

This type of publishing like partner publishing does take budget, but you can decide what that is, because you can do some of the components yourself. You do have to manage the project to ensure the components are being completed.

If you decide to go this route- my advice is not to expect to pay 5 dollars to get a cover that knocks people socks off. You don't have to pay a fortune, but you don't want to use bargain basement providers.


No matter what- here are some essentials

• Edit, Edit , Edit
• Proof- this occurs after your editing, by a professional. You CANNOT proof your own book.
• Create a GREAT cover. In fact, put some ideas out to others to have them help you pick the best cover. (unless you create covers for a living- hire a professional. A graphic artist is not enough- you need someone who can create a great cover with an eye toward what sells.)
• Commit to the best book possible- NO SHORT CUTS. It must look and read in a way that moves people. 
• Marketing starts today- take the time to create one the day you begin writing, and be ready to invest in YOU!

New Digs, New Book, New Outlook

Even though I write for other people, does not mean I do not have my own projects brewing. I am working on my next wine book, that will be step even farther from my first book,

 (Click here to view this book)

The Complete Guide to Making Your Own Wine at Home: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply 

The feedback I have received is that people liked that it helped beginners and also contained some more advanced techniques. The new book (Title Forthcoming) will explore equipment, techniques, recipes and a new perspective after five years. 

I have new a place that will play into the new book, but I don't want to jinx it just yet- I will be moving soon and I could not be more excited.

The is a renewed feeling of creating a new book with my name on the spine. I am very, very, VERY excited. My promise to my clients is to help them craft and publish a book, and now I am making that promise to myself.

One last thought. If you have a response to my blog post- PLEASE post it here, Don't send just an email rant- let's talk it out here on the blogspace. It is how we can learn from one another and others can learn as well.

I am off to Baltimore and then Fort Meyers this week. I love meeting new clients and getting that creative engine moving.


That is my story and I am sticking to it. What is yours? Now write a book about!


John Peragine

Ethics? Only When it Is Convenient!

I sometimes forget I am a writer and journalist- mostly because my life is dedicated to writing for others. I decided I needed to get my feelings out through words.

After a recent presentation to a local chapter of large association, lightning struck twice- I say twice because this is the second time someone did something so unethical after I left the stage, it left my jaw agape.

I understand, that I have competition, which is great for many reasons. It keeps me current, it keeps my prices at the right rate, and frankly I can ghostwrite for the world. There only so many hours to write in a day.

Ethics. Doing the right thing. Thinking before you act. Are these just merely ideas that are acted upon when convenient. Should they not be principles we live by?

After the same thing happened to me twice- I begin to wonder.

Ethics, define who we are. I mean who we really are- not just that face you put on, but that face in the mirror. That person we look at with all of the other bullshit stripped away. Who are we really? What are our values? Do we live by those values? Can we look in the mirror and say to ourselves- Yes, you live by the values you set for yourself, no matter what the cost.

I don't want to disparage an entire organization for the actions of a few, so I will withhold names to protect the guilty.

I present around the US on the topic of writing and mistakes people often make that prevent them from finishing their book. I give them clues about what works, and how to work through challenges. I do these presentations, at this point for free. Why? Because, these often result in leads that turn into clients. It is understood that at the end of my talk I can offer packages and services. In both cases, I did not hardsell from the stage. In fact, I gave away my services. Money people paid for consulting all went to the association.

So, I want to you to get the picture- I am presenting for free, I am giving away my services, and the association is making money.

At the first event, after I stepped off the stage, it was announced that someone else at the chapter did the same thing that I did, he had written a book, he was asked to stand up and there was applause.

Wait? What? Was this planned? Was I over reacting- or did they just have me spend an hour giving away valuable information only to promote their local guy?

Maybe it was a fluke right? Maybe they could not see the pain on my face as I just walked out of the room to collect myself.

So, presentation two- this time I offered to give back a percentage of any contract I solidified in the following weeks back to the organization. This would pay for my travel expenses that the local chapter paid and then some. A win-win.

As I am leaving and shaking hands, I notice someone handing out fliers to people. They were bright green, so they were hard to miss. He approached me, said he was in the same industry, and that if I had any overflow, would I mind sending him some work. I tucked the flier in my bag, and made my way to my room.

The next day I pulled it out. It was an advertisement for the exact services I offer. In fact, it indicated he had targeted that very meeting (in which I was one of two key speakers) to come back to the chapter and offer his services.

What? Are you kidding me? Ethics much? Decency and class much?

I don't really see him as competition really. He was offering to barter services. And I got the leads I expected- but the ethics issue really gets under my skin- as it seems pervasive. It's like scabies, making me itch and feel disgusted.

So- you out there? What would you do in this situation? I am slotted to do my talks within this association again in the future.