Review: For self-publishers, the how-to book to top all how-to books!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 19, 2012
Let's start at the beginning.  Jamie Cawley writes in her Introduction:  "As a non-fiction author that started out writing how to guides, my personal philosophy is 'why use 1,000 words when 50 will do?'"--and then she sticks to it.  She "eats her own dog food," as it were.This book is all of eighty-nine (yes, 89!) pages long and can be read in a single sitting, digested over dinner, and then savored with a quiet re-read over a brandy or cognac.  Once the general principles are part of your grey matter, you can come back as often as you like for a refresher or a nibble as you apply its logic and suggestions.(Somewhat analogous to a visit to the doctor's office, you're not paying for the length of that visit; you're paying for what Jamie Cawley learned through research; assimilated; then carefully put back out on the page in the form of a diagnosis for all of what ails us as self-publishers--not to mention the prescription and the remedy.)Jamie starts out with such fundamental questions as "Why are you publishing--i.e., what's your motivation?  And "Who(m) are you trying to reach?"  These are honest questions each of us needs to answer truthfully for him- or herself before any of us moves forward.  Writing is one thing; publishing, another.She next goes on to ask whether you know your potential audience and how to find it--then provides some free links to Websites that can tell you how to identify that audience.  (I, for instance, don't care for either YA Fiction or Vampire Lit.  Consequently, pitching me a book in either of these two genres would be a complete waste of time and digits.  And although I've written what I hope will shortly become an erotic best seller, I have no real interest in reading erotica.  All I want from erotica is between my own pair of ears, thank you very much.  Writing better, however?  Writing to communicate with--and reach--a reading public?  You bet your sweet tuschie (as we say here in Brooklyn!  And that's why I've read, and am now reviewing for you, Jamie Cawley's masterful advice on how to get published. We're all in this together.  If we can help each other out--writer to writer, but also writer to reader--it's a win/win situation to my way of thinking!)One of my favorite sections in Jamie's book is something she calls "Essential Author Details."  Why?  Because she states the obvious--i.e., the obvious, however, that most of us oddly forget the moment we climb online and launch our cyber selves.  Let me explain.In the real (physical) world, we have time to assess our enemy, acquaintance or chance lover long before we open our mouths to say so much as "booh!"  That person may come walking across the room or across a cloud.  It makes no difference.  We see him or her coming, and our synapses get all aflame.  The chemicals start flowing and, as appropriate, we reach either for a sword, a gun, a drink or a rose.Now put yourself in the position of that person opening the door, crashing a party, walking across the room.  Just how welcome do you think you'd be if you started shouting "Look at ME!  Look at ME!" the moment you entered and long before you'd had a chance to assess the mood and temperament of the other guests?  (Worse, perhaps, than shouting "Look at ME!" is opening the door, tossing the headlines of your newest publication in like a bomb, then shutting the door (i.e., exiting the site) and leaving.  Do you really for an instant think that everyone's going to just drop what they're doing/saying/exploring in order to pick up your piece of explosive news, then click around frenetically to find it and throw a bundle of cash at it?  Well, "there are (stranger) things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy"--but this ain't one of `em.Jamie next moves on to the book itself:  the cover (and how to find good quality photography or graphics on the cheap; how to render and then position your title on that same cover quickly and easily (we're talking 15-20 minutes with a kind of "Book Covers for Dummies" step-by-step description); how to write a Book Description you can (and should) read aloud in 15-30 seconds tops; how to choose an appropriate genre and the best keywords to help browsers find your book--in short, everything you need to promote your book.From there, it's on to the pre-release promotion of your book.  Ever thought about what needs to go into pre-release promotion?  Let's be honest:  have you ever even thought about pre-release?  (I hadn't before I launched my book--and here I am two years later and about $27.50 richer to show for my ignorance and neglect.)But enough about me and my mistakes.There are dozens of things to learn in Jamie's book that we would-be writers of best sellers may not even have thought of.  There are others we may have thought of, but really didn't know how to execute effectively.  There's one thing she doesn't mention, however--and so here and now, I'll mention it.  If you don't already own a copy, do yourself a favor and splurge on The New Oxford Style Manual ([...]) or on The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition (http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Manual-Style-16th/dp/0226104206/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie;=UTF8&qid;=1344867200&sr;=1-1&keywords;=the+chicago+manual+of+style).  You and your readers will be glad you did!But not, of course, before you first do yourself the favor of buying Jamie Cawley's The Self Publisher's Guide to Book Marketing (http://www.amazon.com/Self-Publishers-Guide-Marketing-ebook/dp/B008VG10JU/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie;=UTF8&qid;=1344867547&sr;=1-3&keywords;=The+Self+Publisher%C2%92s+Guide+to+Book+Marketing).RRBAugust 19, 2012