Gone are the days when a handful of publishing giants dominated the book industry — say hello to an industry where any author can inexpensively make his or her book available to the world, through a new generation of giants — online retailers of eBooks. But even this new world of eBooks has it’s own set of challenges that keeps the majority of authors and small to medium-sized publishers away from the booming eBook market — until now.

eBookit.com was created by entrepreneur, programmer, and author, Bo Bennett, who realized a major need for this kind of full-service business after struggling with converting his own print book to eBook format in the summer of 2010.

“I started out with a leading service that offers free conversion and publication, promising it’s both ‘quick’ and ‘easy’. Before I could upload the book, I had to format it to the company’s exact specifications, following a very lengthy style guide. It took me several days to finish the formatting. I attempted to upload the text of the book several times, only to find the conversion failed the validation tests each and every time, as I had missed some obscure formatting point,” says Bennett.

“I tried multiple online tools and services that promised acceptable conversions, but none of them produced a converted file that looked presentable. I was continually plagued with errors, inconsistencies, and funky formatting. If a tech savvy author like me had this much trouble, what hope is there for the typical author who may or may not have a technical background?”

Bennett’s eBook conversion nightmare is not an isolated one. The top retail eBookstores are filled with poorly converted books. Many authors will use automated tools that attempt to convert their source book file into the required eBook file format, not realizing how sloppy the converted file looks and how much of the text or images in the book failed to make it in the converted file. This results in returned eBooks, and worse, negative customer book reviews on the retail sites. “As an eBook lover myself, I may be ‘sold” on the content of a book, but if customer reviews report the eBook is not reader-friendly, I’m not going to waste my money,” says Bennett.

“I created eBookIt.com out of my conviction that an author should have an inexpensive, simple, and truly fool-proof way to get their book converted to eBook format, and submitted to the major online retailers fast, so they can start capitalizing on the exploding eBook market,” says Bennett.

For $149, eBookIt.com converts books to all required eBook formats, and submits the converted eBook to all the major retailers of eBooks including Apple’s iBookstore, Amazon.com, Sony ReaderStore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Borders, the new Google ebookstore and Ingram Digital, which makes the book available to over 32,000 smaller online retailers to sell.

“eBookIt.com combines hands-on review and formatting of the author’s title and the best of automated conversion tools to ensure an overall conversion of the highest quality. We provide peace of mind to our authors and publishers by checking each title on multiple e-reader devices to ensure the eBook looks beautiful,” concludes Bennett.

For more information on eBookIt or to get started, visit http://ebookit.com.

In recent years, the entire landscape of the publishing industry has changed, and now thousands of authors whose books might otherwise never have seen the light of day are getting published.

“The indie publishing revolution is all about providing opportunity and expanding the options for both writers and readers,” says Kevin Weiss, CEO of Author Solutions, whose imprints include AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris and Trafford. “You no longer need to wait years for the chance of being published; becoming an author is no longer a privilege, and the literary world is now accessible to everyone.”

Indie book publishing has also expanded the reasons people write and publish a book. Books are now being used in genuinely new ways — from raising awareness of important social causes to adding to a businessperson’s marketing arsenal and providing significant leverage to attract the attention of a major publisher — books are now multi-faceted “tools.”

Reg Green is an example of the wonderful power of a book to raise awareness of a pressing social issue. After his son Nicholas was tragically murdered, and he and his wife chose to donate his organs, Reg became a leading advocate for organ transplantation. He turned to the pen, too, publishing “The Gift that Heals” through AuthorHouse, which chronicles inspirational stories about organ donation.

Another example, Lisa Genova, was told that nobody would want to read her book “Still Alice,” a novel about a 50-year-old Harvard professor’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

After repeated rejections from traditional publishing houses, Genova chose to self-publish through iUniverse. A literary agent told her she would be basically committing literary suicide if she self-published, and that no publisher would touch her book once she published it independently.

To put it mildly, the agent was wrong.

After a few months and positive reviews, “Still Alice” was picked up by Simon & Schuster and became a New York Times bestseller.

“If you believe in your book, I think you should give it a chance,” Genova said. “Still Alice was a book that people already identified with, and a major publisher saw the book’s potential in a very real way.”

To learn more about indie book publishing visit, http://www.Authorsolutions.com.

Grammy and Emmy winning writer and MasterWriter creator, Barry DeVorzon, will hold a free webinar on November 19th to demonstrate the revolutionary new MasterWriter creative writing software.

The 15-minute online presentation will give creative writers and poets the opportunity to see MasterWriter’s array of unique reference dictionaries from the comfort of their own computer. Registration to the free event is on a first-come, first-served basis. A free copy of MasterWriter will be raffled off during the webinar.

“The greatest enemy of creativity is distraction. Searching a bookshelf full of reference dictionaries, or bouncing from one website to the next trying to find the right word or phrase can interrupt the creative process. With MasterWriter, the creative writer can search on a word and instantly see all of the possibilities in one place, including a vast array of descriptive words that he or she will not find in any other reference dictionary or thesaurus,” says Barry DeVorzon, the Grammy-winning songwriter who created MasterWriter.

The creative writing software is an invaluable tool during the writing process, and in the editing phase as well. “In a competitive world where good is rarely good enough, MasterWriter will help the creative writer to consistently create the exceptional,” notes DeVorzon.

MasterWriter began as a songwriting program, and is currently used by an impressive list of songwriters including Gwen Stefani, Rob Thomas, Amy Grant, David Foster, Kenneth “Baby Face” Edmunds, Kenny Loggins, and Clint Black, to name a few. With the addition of two revolutionary new reference dictionaries, Word Families and Parts of Speech, MasterWriter has evolved into a powerful creative writing software program that will open up a new world of possibilities for descriptive words and ideas.

In addition to Word Families and Parts of Speech, MasterWriter’s collection of reference dictionaries include a Phrases dictionary, a Pop-Culture Dictionary, a searchable Bible, a Rhyming dictionary, and The Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus.

Building the content and the delivery system for all of the reference dictionaries into one easy-to-use program was a six-year effort. Every dictionary was created from scratch, with the exception of The Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus.

No special software is required to watch the demo. Viewers can watch right at their desktop and listen via their computer speakers.

MasterWriter will open up a new world of possibilities for descriptive words and ideas.
To register for the free webinar: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/571363779
Date: November 19th
Time: 4:30 pm Pacific, 7:30 pm Eastern
Duration: 15 minutes

“Still Alice,” written by Lisa Genova, is a novel about a 50-year-old Harvard professor’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. It’s also a book, Genova was told, that nobody would want to read.

Thankfully, Lisa didn’t listen to her critics, and decided to self-publish the novel. Months later, after receiving positive reviews on Amazon.com and a favorable review in the Boston Globe, Genova’s book was picked up by Simon & Schuster and is in its 12th week on The New York Times Bestsellers List.

“If you believe in your book, I think you should give it a chance,” Genova said. “Still Alice” “was a book that people already identified with and [Simon & Schuster] saw the book’s potential in a very real way.”

Genova is not alone. As the economy takes its toll on traditional publishing houses — HarperCollins dropped its Collins division in February, losing major executives and editors, and Random House continues with cutbacks — more authors are looking to online self-publishing companies.

Read the entire article…

The publishing houses are slow and cumbersome. They use cheap editors only interested in ripping your manuscript to shreds (because they know best!). And the publisher ALWAYS take the lion’s share of profits – you end up with a measly few percent, AT BEST!

But MOST IMPORTANTLY – publishing houses do NOT spot best-sellers.

There are literally hundreds of amazing manuscripts that go ignored each and every month (think Harry Potter!). And ALL because the person opening the mail didn’t have the sense to REALIZE the genius behind your work.

However that’s ALL changing…thanks to new innovations in self-publishing.

Discover the BIG NAMES Using Self-Publishing TODAY – And How To Copy Their Tricks to Earning Thousands..

The good news: Sharing your work with the world is not only possible, it’s easy and inexpensive. By harnessing the reach and power of the Internet, millions of people with a passion to communicate their ideas have achieved the dream of becoming a published author.

Take Mike Geary, for example. He earned a science degree at a small college in Pennsylvania and got a good job in environmental consulting. But his passion was fitness, and in his spare time, he became a certified personal trainer and nutritionist. He wrote answers to client questions about weight loss and exercise, then did a little research on the Internet and discovered how many people were searching for answers to the question, “How do I flatten my stomach and lose fat?”

The result was his first book, “The Truth About Six-Pack Abs.” Now, Geary’s e-books and Web site on exercise and fitness gross $6 million a year.

“I never thought I would be an author,” Geary says. “I wrote scientific and technical papers at my old job. In 2004, I got the idea and since then it has taken off.”

How did he do it?

Even 10 years ago, Geary’s book might never have seen the light of day, let alone made him a millionaire. Self-publishing through a vanity press or print-on-demand service requires up-front payment and relies on authors to promote and sell their work. But now, publishing an e-book like Geary’s can be accomplished at a fraction of the cost.

To reach book buyers, Geary tapped into an “affiliate marketing” system to promote his book online. Affiliate marketers operate a Web site, blog or other online outlet devoted to a specific topic — similar to a brick-and-mortar boutique. The commissions they receive on every sale encourage them to seek out the right customers for your book, and give them effective incentives to buy.

One of the largest affiliate marketing networks, ClickBank, provides e-book authors with access to more than 110,000 active online affiliates who reach millions of readers. Authors, software developers, video producers and musicians — anyone with a downloadable product — have successfully used the Web-based platform to connect their products to affiliates, and through them, to buyers.

ClickBank authors retain total control of their work, without relying on agents and publishers. Timely topics can be published right away — without the 12- to 24-month wait of traditional publishing. Want to update your facts or add another chapter? Just do it. An e-book can be revised anytime.

You don’t have to be a business whiz to publish your book and make money. According to Mike Geary, ClickBank manages all of the purchases and financial transactions he needs to run his online business. The company accepts payment by credit cards or PayPal, automatically pays weekly or bi-weekly, and provides guaranteed tracking of sales, customer service and state-of-the-art fraud protection.

It’s the biggest company that connects authors to both an affiliate marketing system and total payment processing services. While ClickBank and its 110,000 marketing affiliates handle promotion and sales, you can focus on writing your next book!

How do you turn your ideas into a book? Here are some tips to get started.

• Focus on something you know well. It should be a subject you’re passionate and knowledgeable about.
• Make time for writing every day. Set a goal — a number of words or a page count — and stick to it.
• Worried about your writing skills? You can hire a freelance editor to clean up your syntax. Find one on Elance.com or MediaBistro.com’s Freelance Marketplace.
• Research the competitive market for your book. Check bookstores, search the Web and visit the library to use publishing industry resources such as BooksInPrint.com and Publisher’s Weekly.
• Google offers cool tools for trend-spotting at google.com/trends/hottrends. Google’s search engine updates the 100 top search terms every hour, with links to news and blog posts.

If you’ve always dreamed of sharing your ideas and knowledge with others, there’s never been a better time than now. Visit ClickBank today to get started.

- Courtesy of ARA

Many self published authors strive to have their works read by others, only to find that the major publishing houses already have a relationship with the major book reviewers. It is highly unlikely that your self published book is going to be featured in the New York Times book review section. However, you can get book reviews for your book and market the book on your own. You may get to the point where your book is widely noticed and a large publishing house offers to publish the book for you. This has happened to many self published authors in the past.

If you want to get the word out about your self published book, you have to be willing to do so yourself. Hiring a book review service is one way that you can generate an interest in your book. Not only can you reflect the book reviews on the cover of the book jacket, but you can also use them to get your foot in the door of some of the book stores.

Book stores will generally sell books by self published authors on a consignment basis. Many bookstores are eager to help new authors get some exposure, especially if they are local authors. There are a great deal of events that are geared towards self published authors where they can display their talents. One of the ways that self published authors get notice is if it appears that others have already noticed them. Those who are going to be buying books will generally read the impression that others have of the books before they make their purchase. This is why book reviews are often on the covers of books. You will notice that dust jackets of books are removable, with the book reviews written on these covers. This is because the book has been sent out to book reviewers before the jacket is printed.

By using a book review service, self published authors can get the same notability given to authors who print comments by book reviewers on their own book dust jackets. A book review company can not only help a self published author gain exposure for his or her book, but they can also help sell the book in the book stores because of the self published book reviews on the dust cover. Self published book marketing depends on using a good book review company and promoting the book through reviews.

Preston Bennett is a consultant with http://www.readerspoils.com/authors.html

The book boasts having such a clear step by step process that anyone can have an ebook up for sale in one week, regardless of previous writing experience.  The book takes you through choosing a very specific niche that you can focus on precisely, how to come up with an ebook idea that will sell to that niche, how to write your ebook extremely quickly, how to get it edited free of charge, how to publish your book online, and how to market your book and start earning money from it.

Also included are four free bonus reports & ebooks; “5 highly effective online marketing methods that don’t cost ANY money” by Jay Conrad Levinson, a 24-page interview with Joe Vitale on how he made his latest ebook “Spiritual Marketing” a success, a report on how to get your ebook setup on Clickbank, and “Million Dollar Emails”, a full ebook on successful email marketing strategies, normally priced at $19. If information ebook production and sales are your game, a step by step walkthrough from these proven experts is a great place to start.