Publishing Award – FAQ

Who Enters the EDGE Publish PASS Awards?

 All independent author/publishers of business books are eligible.

 Are Awards Programs Worth the Money and Effort?

It takes time and money to enter award programs but the potential financial and professional rewards can really make a difference in your books success as a personal professional tool.  Awards not only bring personal satisfaction and prestige to the author but they can ultimately influence buyers. The book can keep on selling and influencing decision makers, thanks in part to that gold seal on the cover.

 

What sets the EDGE Awards Apart?

Winner Honorable Mentions appear for an entire year at www.Publishpass.com, and are featured prominently in our monthly newsletter and on various other award announcement related websites.

 

How do I know you got my entry?

You ship the books to us. We highly recommend that you send a trackable package, or include a self-addressed stamped post card to help us confirm receipt of your entry. Please include the online entry receipt with the book.

 

Do the judges read every book from cover to cover?

 Awards judges are trained to assess a book’s quality, much as a buyer at a bookstore or library determines whether or not to purchase for their patrons. The further a book makes it through the judging process, the more likely it will be read completely.

 

Please send any other questions to:

Shannon Evans Awards Director and Publish PASS Editor at sevans@publishpass.com

Book Award for Entrepreneurial Publishers

Announcing the 2009 Excellence in Demonstrating Groundbreaking Entrepreneurship (EDGE) Award! 

Entry open to independents authors of books and ebooks worldwide who publish for the North American market with a 2008 copyright (or that were released in 2008).

Announcing the EDGE Awards sponsored by Professional Advancement Seminars and Services (PASS) Publishing Company recognize and promote independently published books and ebooks that change people’s lives and promote the professional. EDGE – Excellence in Demonstrating Ground-breaking Entrepreneurship. The EDGE Awards were conceived to recognize and reward extraordinary books by independent publishers.

 

The EDGE Awards are focused solely on independently published business books and ebooks. Winner, Finalists, and Honorable Mentions appear for an entire year at www.publishpass.com. Winners will also be featured and highlighted prominently in our monthly newsletter. Awards are a great tool for all those involved. Awards influence reviewers, buyers, decision makers and future clients. The gold seal prominently placed on the book cover often captures the buyer’s attention and leads to higher sales. Enter now at: 

http://www.publishpass.com

 

·         Any non-fiction book that promotes an industry accepted scope of practice in a professional area of expertise will be accepted.

·         A submission should set forth a theory that has justifiable merit and factual basis.

·         The book can cover any professional topic but must give a solution or benefit for issues of that professional practice. 

·         The entry must meet the standards of the professional practice from which it is related.

·         Each entry must list the profession to which it is related.

 Awards: Winning titles will be exhibited in a 2009 Publish PASS EDGE Book Awards Showcase web page. An overall Grand Prize winner, an honorable mention will be awarded. 5 finalists will be named, for each profession submitted a special award will be given to the top book and the top ebook.

Each entry will be judged on and receives an individual evaluation with the judges’ commentary based on the following criteria:

 

·        Appropriateness of subject matter.

·        Depth of research

·        Is the entry “well-sourced”? Are sources credible and accurate?

·        Presentation

·        Impact of entry on the problem or issue covered

·         How well the book has achieved its goal

·         What possibilities are suggested by the book

·         What the book has left out

·         What specific points are not convincing

·         Eye catching cover

·         Market appeal

·         Client generation ability

Book Reviewers – Some Non-traditional Sources to Consider

Getting a self-published or POD book reviewed is easy to do! Create a list of potential reviewers while you are waiting for your book to come back from the printer. Once you have your book in hand from the printer you are ready to send out review copies.  So how do you develop a list of potential reviewers?

• Book Reviewers – Let’s pretend for a moment that you just wrote a book on baseball bats and you want your book reviewed. While your book was at the printer and in between writing sell sheets and press releases, you began to conduct research on the who’s who in baseball genre self-published book reviews. Your search starts by going to Google and typing in “sports” or “baseball” and “book reviews”. Why not add “bats”? Baseball bats are a highly specialized area and perhaps that would be too limiting of a search. Perhaps the reviewer who will give you the most glowing review will be the one who never read a book about the equipment related to the sport that is his or her favorite genre. Crafting the search for the list is important as you want it to be manageable.
• Reading Groups – Don’t just search for reviewers. Include reading groups and reviewing publications as possible sources for reviews as well. Reading groups and book circles can give great mileage to your book’s marketing campaign. Select those that are genre specific to increase your likelihood that they will select your book to read and review.
•  Reviewing Publications – There are some publications that will accept unsolicited books for review. A little research on line and in some writing handbooks will expose a few potential sources. Your best luck will be genre specific publications that cater to your target audience.
• Reviewers on the Web – Some reviewers exist on the web independently. Some are found through host sites and social networking organizations related to books and book promotion. They are often thrilled to give you a review in exchange for a free book. A little homework will reveal what genre they prefer. Consider perusing the web for bloggers and ezine article writers who have existing reviews on the web.
• Writer’s Portals – What better person to review your book than a writer! Check out some of the writer’s sites on the web. There are now several social networking communities where some members offer review services. A peer review is a definite plus in your favor! A simple web search for author groups should reveal a sizeable list with potential reviewers.

Book reviews should always be free. You are sending them a free book and as such you do not control the time for turnaround and content. If a reviewer requires a fee of any sort (reading fee, handling, etc) do NOT submit a book to them. No reviewer worth his/her literary salt takes money for a professional review. NEVER PAY FOR A BOOK REVIEW.

Book Reviews – Can Self-Published Authors Get Them?

Can self-published authors get reviewers to seriously consider their work like their traditionally published author cousins? Getting a book reviewed is an important step for marketing your book, especially for a first time author.

Getting a book reviewed is not as difficult as it might seem if you are creative in how you approach the project. There are some reviewers who will never accept an unsolicited or self-published book to review. Big fat hairy deal! Remember, Chicken Soup for the Soul was once a self-published book that is now multi-million dollar best seller. If you are diligent in your search you will find there are many non-traditional reviewers out there just waiting for a copy of your book.

One of the easiest ways to find who is doing reviews is to go out and conduct an internet research on your genre and book reviewers. For example, if you are a romance writer whose latest book is historically based consider research parameters like: “book reviews” and “historical romance”. It make take a few tries to get the correct combination but you should be able to locate a credible reviewer who would love to read your book.

Keep an open mind and an open eye for potential reviewers. Book reviews are an incredibly visible passive marketing tool that is inexpensive (cost of a book and postage) and often pays off with high sales dividends. 

Writing a Book – Formulating a Strategy to Write a Market Ready Best Seller

How do you know that the book you want to write has a market? Do you plan to just write and see what happens? Some books were made to be written to satisfy our souls, others are written to be marketed in such a way that they support other work we are doing. So how do you create a strategy for your book?

• Define your goals
• Identify your target audience
• Explore and thoroughly research your topic/background
• Write with clarity of purpose
• Carefully and brutally edit

While your book is with an editor begin formulating your softsell marketing efforts:

• Create a blog or forum on your book’s topic and begin creating a ready made audience
• Write articles about your book’s topics and post them in article directories
• Pre-write press releases for your book’s launch
• Begin direct marketing efforts for your pre-sales
• Generate a mailing list to support an E-Newsletter for your potential audience

Effective marketing tactics begin with the crafting of the content. Create a winning strategy and you will have a best seller on your hands.

Why Authors Should Write Articles for Article Directories

Niche marketing is the current catch phrase for audience building.  Why do you want to submit articles to article directories about your niche (your book)? The simple answer is to create back links to your book sales sites or to your author promotion page.

Article writing is a great way to promote your site and your book in a most cost effective way.  Sharing your knowledge and your expertise makes you recognized and trusted by new and ever growing audiences. If readers are impressed with what you have to say they will follow your backlinks to your site and join your community.

Not only does article writing increase your audience it also pushes you up in search engine rankings. Through careful research and consideration you can find directories that are appropriate for your writing and that mesh well with your needs. Avoid the “get rich quick” sites and the one that do not require author registration or provide no readership/viewing metrics.

A well written article will keep your readers coming back for more. Provide them with material that they will want to read and then share with others. You want your readers to feel so good about what you are doing that they recommend your site to others.  As more people begin to know you and you become a recognized author in the field you will gain their trust and their buying dollars.  Article submissions are a great author marketing tool for book promotion.

Promote Your Book with Internet Article Writing

Have you ever thought of using internet article writing as a way to promote your book? Online article writing is a great way to create more traffic back to your website to promote your book.  While you can not submit articles to reputable article directories if you include a hard sell message, you can leave a link that backtracks to your book site.

The more times your name appears on the web (in a positive manner!) the more times the little SEO spiders will pick up your name and associate it with your book. How do you get that all important backlink in your article without being too obvious or brazen?

Most sites have what are called ‘give’ and ‘take’ boxes for information. The ‘give’ box is where the content of your well written informative article is posted. Your ‘take’ box is where you craft a highly informative paragraph or two (at most) about you and your book. This is where you embed the links to your website, your blog, or your forum on your book.

If you have a well written article that is related to the topic of your book, websites and ezine directories will happily include a link back to where your book is sold. Make sure your article content is useful, relevant, and original and you can’t go wrong.

Promoting your book through internet articles is not only cheap (free except for the cost of your writing time) but is highly profitable in terms of the traffic it generates back to your book. Put your writing skills to work for you to promote your book. It can pay off big in the end!

On-line Press Kits, Media Kits and Public Relations for Your Book

As an author of a recently or not so recently birthed book, you need a press kit to market you and your book. Your website needs to host a PR page that is easy to access and full of rich information. Here are the basic items your press kit should contain on your website:

• Press Release File – a page that lists links to either the actual page on the publisher’s site or a link to a pdf housed on your site of the actual clipping or press release.
• Author Bio – This page should have two versions of your bio. One should be highly detailed and in-depth. The other should be short, 1-2 paragraphs, and easy to read as a “sound bite”.
• Fact Sheet – Title, publisher, price, ISBN, page count, publication date, etc.
• Interview Questions – 12-15 sample questions for an interviewer to use
• Graphics page – jpg and gif version attachments of your book cover and your professional head shot
• Schedule – list of up-coming appearances, book signings, and events
• Sell Sheet – down loadable and faxable version of your book’s features and benefits
• Sample Book Excerpt – pdf copy of a part of a core chapter of your book

This on-line version can not take the place of sending out review copies of your book to media sources. It does give potential audiences a good source of information on you, your book, and an incite into your personal message.

Writing Winning Headlines for Your Book’s Sales Landing Page

If you are trying to sell your book from your website, how do you drive customers to the site? If you are using the Internet to market your book you have to be headline and keyword savvy.

Before writing a headline for your page you need to be clear on three things:

• Who are you aiming to attract to the page (who is your target audience)
• What 2-3 features are most important about your book
• Why your audience will benefit from reading your book

If you are perfectly clear on these three things you will easily design appealing attention getting headlines for your audience.  You don’t have to be cutesy and overly creative…you just want to sell to your customers. So put yourself in you customer’s shoes and see what will not only get their attention bu deliver a complete message that draws the reader into your site and compels them to sick around and buy your book.

Your book, whether self-published or published by more traditional methods needs lots of attention in order to generate sales. Effective author promotion requires good use of the author marketing tools that exist on the web. What better way to self-promote your work then in a positive, cost effective way on your author owned website.

Book Cover Design For Non-Fiction Books

Front Cover – Go out and explore your local book store. Look at book covers that draw you to them. Why are they so effective? Where is the title on the book? Is it centered or off-set? Are the letters raised or outline in a contrasting color? How does the lettering of the title impact the image on the cover? Does the title stand out or does it get lost? Will it photograph well in marketing materials?
* Make sure the image you select for your book best represents your content.
* Select a font for the title and author name that have slight variations.
* Use at least four colors for the cover, six if you can. Play with the effects of outlining, shadowing, and other design elements.
* Raised lettering adds a touch of class and style to the book cover design.
Spine – Center your title on the spine. You don’t want it falling off on the back of front cover. Check the spelling carefully. This is the first thing the person in the store or a library usually notices about a book.
Back Cover – Proof read, proof read, and proof read! Use Arial for the headings and Times Roman for the content. This makes the content easier to read. If you wish to include your photo, this is the ONLY place to include. Unless you are famous, never put your mug on the cover. 
* Include your URL on the back cover.
* Include 1-2 features of your book followed by 3-5 benefits for each feature in bullet statements.
* Short testimonials or endorsements are a must to have on the back cover.
Following these simple guidelines will help you design a cover that you can not only be proud of but that will help sell your books.