For authors who want to publish at a professional level, self-publishing is a misnomer. Usually you will end up hiring publishing professionals to help you with your book. Those may be individuals, such as freelance editors and designers, a hybrid publisher, or a publishing services company like Page Two.
Choosing a publicist to promote your book is an important decision. A book publicist who fits your working method – and book’s subject matter – can significantly increase your book’s chances of receiving media coverage, and also ensure you have a positive experience.
The biggest book-buying season is upon us, so authors, publishers and retailers are keen to see which books will be the most popular for gift-giving. At Page Two, we feel that books make the ultimate gift, especially when compelling content is offered in a package that’s exquisitely produced.
Since self-publishing became a common practice, we’ve begun to see authors routinely referred to as entrepreneurs, and the act of publishing described as an entrepreneurial endeavour. We wholeheartedly agree with these comparisons, but we feel they’re not new.
Page Two principals Jesse Finkelstein and Trena White are the latest guests to speak about self publishing on ProSpeak, an online professional speakers series curated and hosted by Geoffrey X Lane.
Last year Canadian poet and spoken word artist Shane Koyczan aimed to raise $15,000 on Kickstarter to fund his next poetry book. He ended up raising over $90,000. When it works, as it did for him, crowdfunding is a great way to cover the costs of editing, design, website development, and other costs associated with self-publishing.
We sometimes feel the term “self-publishing” is a misnomer. It implies that you have to do it all yourself, which makes some writers feel overwhelmed. The good news is, you don’t have to go it alone!
Page Two principals Trena White and Jesse Finkelstein are featured in this month’s BC Business Magazine in an article titled “Life After Traditional Book Publishing” by Kerry Gold.
Page Two’s summer intern recently asked us how she could stay up-to-date with the latest news in publishing. After all, commercial publishing is filled with just as many buzzwords, hot topics, complexities, and developments as any other major industry and can be confusing and intimidating to people on the outside.
The world of ebook conversion is mysterious to most of us. It’s difficult to imagine what goes into designing a file that’s versatile enough for display on many different devices. The standard ebook file format is called ePub, and it’s designed to be responsive and to automatically adjust to the screen size of any e-reader, computer, smartphone or tablet.
Inevitably at some point, our self-publishing clients ask whether they should distribute their ebook exclusively through Kindle, or whether they should take a different approach. In most cases, we advise selling to a variety of ebook retailers.
These days there’s an endless barrage of articles about why traditional publishers are horrible (they’re not.), and why self-publishing is a bad idea (it’s not).
