E-Publishing - Should You Do It?

To E-Publish or Not E-Publish... That is the Question
by guest blogger Nicholas Boving

Let’s face it, for the little-known author, getting a book into print is tough. Regular publishing is nearly impossible. Self-publishing is an exercise in frustration and sales rarely cover the cost. Besides, who wants a garage full of moldy, unsold books? Any way you look at it, your earnings per hour will average below starvation wage.

So what’s the alternative? After a stuttering, stammering start, E-Book Publishing is making a comeback in spades. The giants of the book selling world, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, have grabbed the baton and made their presence known.

But again, it comes down to self-promotion. Shameless self promotion. Put the information on Facebook. Send it to your friends and ask them to pass the message on. Twitter as hard as your little fat fingers will type. Blog about it. Guest blog about it. Get on LinkedIn and other such sites, set up a professional profile, hang out with authors and advertise your E-books. Use provocative titles that ask questions or make bold statements.

The Big Secret: Upload your babies to an E-Book site, bite the bullet and let it go for nothing. That’s right, for zip, nada, as in FREE! If you’ve only got one book, set a time limit on your offer. If you’ve got more than one, maybe rotate them. Study some of the E-Books you read and get ideas on how to present your idea in the best way possible. You'll want to use colors, bold headlines, bullet points, etc. Not too many people can resist a freebie that meets a need. The name of the game is to get readers.

Of course there are no guarantees in life and even fewer in publishing, but at least with E-Books your destiny is in your own hands and it won't cost you a cent. Why not give it a try?

You can see Nick's E-books at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Nicholas.

For more great writing tips, subscribe to The Writer's Choice at Creative Writing Institute at http://www.creativewritinginstitute.com.

Valentine Party

It's time for a break, so let's have fun this week. Guest blogger, Jill Lundberg, (chef and caterer for NASA launch) gives us this great idea:

Valentine's Day is an exciting excuse to throw a party. Have everybody wear red apparel. Guests will be in a loving mood and looking for a good time. It doesn’t matter whether you invite couples or singles or a mixture of both but it always adds spice to add some new friends.

Make the house bright and festive. Decorations are easy and available. Buy or cut out red hearts then cut the hearts out in double layers using a jigsaw pattern so that each heart half only matches one other. Put half of each heart into a container for the women and the other half into a container for the men. Before your guests sit down for dinner, have each person draw half a heart from the proper container and find the person with the matching half. This will really spark dinner conversation and it will also eliminate the need to worry about seating.

Joke for the week:

A gal went to a doctor with black eyes, a badly bruised arm and missing teeth.
"What happened to you?” the doctor said.
"Every time my husband and I argue, he beats me up. I love him, but I just can’t take it any more."
"You need the Sweet Tea solution."
"What's that?" she said.
"Every time your husband is in the same room with you, take a mouthful of sweet tea. As long as he remains in the room you may swish it around or even gargle, but don't swallow it or spit it out. Come back in a month and we'll see how that works."
The next month she returned and looked great.
"How are you doing?" the doctor said.
"The Sweet Tea solution worked great. What's the secret?"
"You couldn't talk."

For more great ideas and recipes, drop in for a visit at http://www.lettucemakeyoulaugh.com.