We all remember the story of Goldilocks, the mischievous little girl who was on a quest for “just right.” Whether it was chairs, porridge, or beds, she knew how important it was to have exactly what you need – no more, no less.

As an author, you should embrace Goldilocks’ philosophy when it comes to printing your books. Too few books could mean that you don’t have books to sell to new readers. Too many books could mean that you will have case upon case of books gathering dust in your garage. But just the right amount of books will keep your readers, your garage, and your checkbook happy.

When considering where to print your book, consider Print-On-Demand (POD) solutions. In a POD print model your book will be digitally printed and shipped only when orders are received, eliminating the risk associated with carrying a large inventory of your book.

Additionally, fulfilling your orders on your own can be time consuming and costly. Your cash flow is very important to you, especially since traveling and promoting your book takes time and money.

It’s our advice to follow in the footsteps of Goldilocks and find the right print model for your book. For authors, we especially recommend that they look into Print-On-Demand as a viable alternative to printing hundreds (or thousands) of books at one time. If you’d like to learn more about POD and how it could work for you, please contact us!

If that’s the case, maybe this year will be The Year. The year that you make that dream a reality. The year that you decide to go ahead and publish. As Seth Godin says, choose yourself.

If you decide to do that, there are a lot of steps in front of you – everything from deciding what to publish, deciding how to publish, to deciding when exactly to publish.

We try not to talk about ourselves too much, but at BelieversPress, we’re good at all of those things. We’re going to put up a few short posts over the next little while to help you try to answer those questions, but if you’re sitting there, thinking about making this the year, please, start! If we can help, call us. Better yet, download our Author’s Guide to Publishing or the Hidden Hazards of Self-Publishing. Start the learning process.

After all, this could be your year!

Cambodia, a communist country located between Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, is prime for conversion as freedom of religion was only recently granted in 1993. There are an estimated 500,000 believers, but most of them do not have a copy of the Bible…

Endeavoring to return Cambodia to a rice farming culture, the former Khmer Rouge regime destroyed everything of value during the late 1970s, tearing up all the roads, murdering one of every three citizens, razing schools, hospitals, and burning books. They decimated an entire generation of Cambodians.

The current leader has helped engineer a remarkable turn-around, rebuilding the infrastructure needed for the country to emerge from poverty. Still, 80% of the country is rural agrarian, largely without electricity.

Against this back drop, the Cambodian church is growing rapidly, and is finally experiencing peace. In 1993 only .001% of the population was Christian. Today 4% is Christian with 10,000 new believers being added to that number every month. With only limited quantities of the Bible allowed to be imported, there is a major need.

The good news is that there is no limit on the number of Bibles allowed to be printed within the country. But sadly Cambodia has had no Bible presses…until now…

Partners in Publishing, a ministry of Bethany International composed of Christian publishing professionals who volunteer their time to accelerate indigenous Christian publishing, is at the center of this project, raising funds, purchasing the press, the paper, and training Cambodian partners to print and bind Bibles.

This is a labor of love, fueled by proceeds from the projects authors and publishers print and publish with Bethany Press / BelieversPress, so that we all can see a Bible in the hands of each new Christian in Cambodia.

Here’s a quote from Steve Hyde, Director of Words of Life ministry and key partner in the Cambodia Bible Project:

“For nearly 10 years I have been hunting and searching for a Bible printing solution in Cambodia. The reason is simple: we have tens of thousands of people coming to Christ every year, and only about 20% of Christians can get access to a Bible. There were only 3 places in all of Cambodia that even sold Bibles and you could only buy 2-3 at a time because they were afraid of depleting their stocks before the next annual shipment of a few thousand copies would arrive. As of November 24, 2011, Thanksgiving Day, we are running the first pages of our Bible on our new Bible printing press in Cambodia. We will probably not have any turkey, but we will give thanks to God for his provision and miracles.
It took many people to make the dream of the press possible. Today the press is running and starting to print the first 30,000 Bibles. But this year is also a year of expectations for the coming year. My dream is to print 1 million Bibles in 5 years in Cambodia. We have 20 years of a lack of Bibles to catch up on! I feel confident that in only a few years from now we will be celebrating another Thanksgiving of accomplishing that goal and I know the list of people who made it possible will be significantly longer!”

The Cambodia Bible Project is proof that together we can transform the world for Jesus. Thank you for making this life-changing project a reality!

There’s nothing easier than working with an author who can point out three book covers or interiors that they love and three that they hate. Why does that make life easy? The conversation that goes along with the review of the covers or interiors they’ve selected makes designing for them easy. The process tells a good typesetter or cover designer what you like without you identifying it. You may not notice that all three of the interiors you love use a san serif font for subheadings and block quotes, but your typesetter will. Likewise, you may not notice that the interiors you dislike all feature far too little white space.

Your designer noticed, though, and your book will be designed with more white space. 

So, here’s what I recommend: before you start working with a typesetter or cover designer, take your spouse / best friend / someone who understands you pretty well to your local bookstore. Spend an hour there. Spend that time wandering and paying attention to book covers and interiors. When you encounter a cover that makes you want to pick up the book, make a note of the title. When you see an interior that you find especially readable, note that too.

There will be covers and interiors that make you want to put the book down. Take note of them, too. By the end of the hour, you’ll have stumbled upon books that you otherwise wouldn’t have, and you’ll have a solid list of prospects to review on your favorite bookseller’s website. Then, narrow down the covers you want to talk about with your designer before they start.

If you do this, you’ll go into the process with a better idea of what you like, and so will your designer. Now, rest assured, if you decide to fixate on something that’s a bad design decision, your designer will gently nudge you away from it. But, that risk aside, go gather some inspiration. It’ll make everyone’s life easier!

We’re really proud of our Hidden Hazards of Self-Publishing. (click here to get the full document) It’s the honest, straight-laced truth about self-publishing, and it’s a document that we feel like this industry has needed for a long time. Christian authors need someone to tell them the truth, steer them away from the hidden hazards, give them full control, and provide options that are in their best interest. Self-publishing can become a trap for the unwary.

As it has made its way through the hands of many self-published authors (and many more who are considering it), we’ve been asked a lot of questions. One that particularly piqued our interest was, “When are you going to tell the positive side of the story? When will you create a resource that tells about how authors successfully worked around or through all the hazards?”

That’s a great idea. But it’s not just our story to tell – it’s your story. Many of you out there in self-publishing land have successfully overcome obstacles, avoided hazards, and done creative things that, well, we probably couldn’t ever think of.

So, we want to try a little community project. We’re going to blog through the Hidden Hazards. We want to use the comment section to gather stories, strategies, and ideas to help other authors self-publish better.

We’ll plan to start Thursday. Depending on how the conversation goes, we’ll have a new post every couple of days. Please comment – we’d love to hear how things worked for you! If we do this right, we can develop a community knowledge base that will trump all the success anecdotes that new authors are often sold, a real resource that reflects the actual challenges and opportunities of self-publishing. And that sounds great to us.

A note: While we know that many of you may have had negative experiences with specific self-publishing companies, we’re asking that we all keep the mentions generic. Unless it was us. We love to learn from our mistakes!

Our hope is that together we can do such a great job explaining what good self-publishing looks like so that newcomers evaluating their options won’t get sucked into a bad experience.

Join us Friday – we’re looking forward to it.

If you haven’t already, download the BelieversPress Hidden Hazards of Self-Publishing

Lessons From Our Journey Through the Christian Self-Publishing World

WARNING: Before you self-publish, be sure to read the BelieversPress Hidden Hazards of Self-Publishing eBook!

- Learn how to separate the sheep from the wolves
- Find out how to effectively navigate the self-publishing landscape
- Gain exclusive insider tips for successful Christian self-publishing

I never thought I’d self publish anything. Truly. I’m a traditionally published girl with eleven books under my author belt. I love my publishers, love what they’ve done. But there came a time when one of my book ideas didn’t fit within their needs.

The kernel of the idea to e-publish started when I pioneered my nonfiction and fiction proposal tutorials to help authors with the difficult process of writing a book proposal. Sure, they were simple e-documents I sold here from my site, but they weren’t made of paper, and they’ve proven to be a financial blessing. I don’t make a lot, but the amount helps me pay my taxes (and everyone knows the taxmonster needs fed.) (Side note: I use e-junkie in conjunction with PayPal to administrate my e-purchases. E-junkie isn’t expensive, and PayPal is free, except for the processing fees. Click on my store tab above to see how I’ve created buttons for these products.)

After this, I started to entertain the idea of publishing (via e-book readers) The 11 Secrets of Getting Published. I learned a lot along the journey. I’d like to save you the learning curve, so read on to discover the seven simple steps for publishing your e-book.

1. Develop an idea, then write it. This is probably the hardest thing in the process. Some of you have short stories you’d like to compile. Some have novels in a drawer. Others have tons of blogs you could pull together to create a book. That’s what I chose to do. I had this idea to compile the most instructive posts from my former blog, Wannabepublished. What surprised me: when I added all the posts into a document, I had over 60,000 words! (Side note: a typical nonfiction book is 50-60,000 words. A typical novel is 80-100,000 words.) Of course, with an e-book, the rules have changed, but these numbers give you a ballpark to shoot for.
2. Edit the document. I spent the the next few months editing the piece. I also hired Leslie Wilson, a mentor at the Writing Spa, to fine tune and organize it for me. If you’re not a writer (or even if you are), I highly recommend you hire an outside editor. You want to produce the best possible book, right? Keep in mind there are two types of edits, a substantive edit where the editor checks the big idea, flow, holes, etc. The second is a line or copy edit, where the editor checks for grammar and usage problems. Both are important. If you have an incredible critique group with big picture writers (substantive) and English teacher types (copy), you may be able to get away with not paying for an edit. But it’s always best to err on the side of professionalism.
3. Transform the document into the correct e-format. You can’t just upload a word document and be done with it. You need specific files to upload to the Kindle (known as a .prc file), which are different than the Nook or iPad (known as the .epub file) format. Many people have successfully used SmashWords for this. I’ve been to the site, and it seems very user friendly. The only thing they ask is that you make sure your document is correctly formatted in Word before you upload it. They have a SmashWords Style Guide you can upload for free that helps you through the process. Since I work with Believers Press, I decided to pay to have them convert the files for me. They did an amazing job and quoted an affordable price.
4. Although it’s not entirely necessary for ebooks, it is a good idea to buy an ISBN for your title. You can purchase these at Bowker. It’s cheaper if you buy more than one. 1 is $125.00. 10 ISBNs are $250, and 100 are $575. I bought ten. The process is fairly simple, and all the ebook uploaders have a box where you can place your ISBN.
5. Pay a designer to create an amazing cover. Don’t scrimp on this. I happen to adore my friend George at Tekeme Studios. He is incredibly gifted at creating covers.
6. Upload your document.
   • Find the appropriate site and register an account. They’ll ask you for your SSN or EIN, your address, and your banking information. You can opt to have them send you a physical check or direct deposit the money into your account. I chose the latter option. If you’d like to upload to Kindle, click here. For Barnes & Noble’s nook, click here. For the Ipad, click here to start your account with itunesconnect. Here’s a FAQ for the iPad uploading. It’s a bit complicated (oddly). (The latter two were not easy for me to find initially, so I’m saving you time by giving you the direct link.) Happy note: IT DOES NOT COST YOU TO HAVE AN ACCOUNT OR UPLOAD YOUR BOOK. IT IS FREE! Yay!
   • Give your title, a book description, and the language you wrote the piece (presumably English).
   • Create a bio.
   • Identify yourself as the author. If there are contributing authors, you can add more authors in drop down menus.
   • Verify Your Publishing Rights. You’ll have two options: “This is a public domain work” or “This is not a public domain work and I hold the necessary publishing rights.” You will typically choose the second option since you are the author of the piece and hold all rights. (If you are publishing one of your old books that’s been traditionally published, be sure you have ALL RIGHTS reverted back to you before you publish your book. Have a physical document from the publisher granting you all rights.)
   • Decide about DRM (Digital Rights Management). You want to select Enable Digital Rights Management so people can’t send your file everywhere. This protects you from piracy.
   • Provide your ISBN (if you have one).
   • Supply keywords (words that relate to your book that will help them position your title).
   • Click through categories and decide which ones best fit your book. For instance, my category had to do with publishing and authorship.
   • Upload your book cover image. They usually have a file maximum size like 5 MB. A typical cover will be about 1.5 MB. Your graphic artist will already know this and will create the file in appropriate dimensions with web friendly colors.
   • Upload your digital file of the text (in the proper format, though Kindle will do the transformation for you.)
   • Set the price. Of all the research out there, $2.99 seems to be the magic number. It’s the least you can price something and still make a high percentage on royalties (for Amazon, that’s 70%).
   • Decide on rights. Typically people choose worldwide.
   • When you finish all this (It took me less than an hour), wait about 24 hours for the book to go live.
7. Market your book!
• Message your Facebook and Twitter followers.
• Give books away for free for a short period of time to generate buzz, and ask that folks review and chatter about it.
• Send a note to your email distribution list.
• Give copies away to influential friends who would offer endorsement and/or tweet/facebook/blog about your book.
• Take out targeted Facebook ads.
• Pay to be a sponsor on Kindle Nation Daily. Here are their prices. Author James Scott Bell said he did this and more than paid back what he paid to advertise his books.

So there you go! I’ll admit that when I first thought of doing this, I felt completely inadequate and ignorant. The learning curve seemed too high. But as I chipped away at the process, I realized this was something I could do. It makes me happy, too, to know that I can simplify the process for you.

So get writing! Start publishing! Venture forward! Keep this post and share it with others who need the process demystified.

Are your publishing pursuits a business or are they ministry?

Of course, the answer is seldom that easy. Far more often, it’s a combination of both. The desire to publish is a desire to spread the message that God has laid on your heart to the people He’s given you a burden for. It’s a desire to do that in a way that allows your ministry / career / self to grow.

How do you do that?

As I teach self-publishing classes, I’m constantly reminded (and reminding people in my classes!) of the need to evaluate costs, likely sales, and the impact that those numbers will have on your ministry. If you’ve done the math, then even if publishing the book is going to be (by the math) a losing proposition, at least you were aware ahead of time. And that’s just good stewardship!

Maybe it’s time we stopped to ask ourselves if we are excited about their businesses. As Christian authors, we’re accustomed to viewing our work as ministry. Do we see our local Christian bookstores that way too? If not, it might be time for us to re-evaluate how we look at them.

It’s so easy to roll into your local bookstore and talk with them about your book. But do you already buy books there? Do they know you (or at least recognize you a little bit)? Are you praying for them?

I haven’t met many people who are in writing, publishing, or book sales in the Christian market for the money. What if we started to celebrate each other? What if we started to love each other and pray for each other? What a great opportunity to work together for our Savior! After all, He is the real reason we do these things.

The stigma of self-publishing wasn’t related to just one characteristic. It related to quality issues, sales issues, and the general perception that someone who self-published didn’t have what it took to make it in the commercial publishing world. Looking over that list, some of those issues have changed:

- The sales issue was tied up in the lack of access to good distribution. Today, authors can find all kinds of great distribution options. Brick-and-mortar access is still tough (unless you have a budget to play with the big boys), but you can be available and connected with readers in ways that publishers aren’t nimble enough to rival.

- the “not-good-enough” issue is being stood on its head as more than just a few commercially published authors are slipping away from their publishers and beginning to publish themselves. Some of them are going eBook only, while others are using a combination of eBooks and POD technology to be available to their readers where-ever the readers want them. However they accomplish it, they’re taking control of their own publishing endeavors — they are self-publishing.

But, here’s where my conversation partner had a point: the quality issue. Commercially published books aren’t perfect. In fact, if you’re the kind of reader I am, you may get a little bit of glee over catching errors. (I know, I know, how tremendously petty!). But, they do attain to a certain standard of quality. Even if it’s not the type of book you usually read, there is a bar set for quality that the vast majority of the titles will meet or exceed.

Compare that to self-publishing. If you ordered 10 random self-published titles from your favorite distributor or retailer, you’d get a mixed bag of results. You might get a few with great covers and a few with covers so bad they’re practically criminal. As you read, you might find that some of them were tremendously well edited. More of them, however, would be barely edited at all, leaving you to wonder about the author’s own ability to concoct a brilliant sentence. The interior design of some will be up to industry standards. Others will use all the wrong fonts and be completely illegible.

So, consider this an open challenge: If you’re going to self-publish, it’s up to you to ensure that you don’t deserve the stigma of self-publishing. You can choose to do great work (and hire the right people) and have a high-quality book. Do it. Don’t let yourself wind up with a book that gets in the way of your message. Don’t deserve the stigma!

Publishing can not only serve your cause, it can help you further your cause. How?

- Comprehension. There’s still no better way to communicate a message than a book. Publishing can help people to understand your cause.

- Growth. Publishing for your cause can help you reach people that otherwise wouldn’t be able to reach.

- Funding. Selling your book can help you raise money to further your cause.

At BelieversPress, we love working with authors and ministries who are part of a cause – the Cause, taking the good news about Jesus to the world. Maybe it’s time for your cause to start publishing.