Publishing a book

A couple of years ago, to publish a book you had to be a professional author, with enough cash to pay the publicist, the editor...

You had to be really committed to the whole writing thing, otherwise it was a waste of money and time. A lot of times, you'd get rejected for not being commercial enough.

But that's about to change. 

With the rising popularity of ebooks and ebook gadgets, buying a book is just one click away. Ebooks cost considerably less, they're easy to buy, easy to read, and most importantly- you can take it anywhere!

Right now, the demand-supply is very different. It just the beginning, so a lot of authors aren't sure what to do. Some don't want to give up the traditional ways, but the truth is- evolve or die. A lot of publishing houses with haven't started publishing electronically, have gone bankrupt. There are less ebooks than the demand for them, which is why, if you're an author who's just starting, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you've finished a book, and want to publish it, I'll take you through some of the details. 

First of all, it's easy.

• Choose where you'll publish.There are several ways to publish an ebook, but the simplest one is to publish it on the iBookstore. The truth is that Apple has the highest selling rate on ebooks, beating Amazon by 14% ! If this is too simple for you, you can always pay a publisher to do the whole thing for you, even the marketing.

• Convert the document to epub. So, if you have your book in a Word document format, you have to convert it to epub ( ebook format ). There are several good converting sites, but my personal favorite is http://ebook.online-convert.com/ . It's easy to use, and it takes a couple of seconds. If however you don't like it, just google another one.

• Choose the cover. This is a really important step. The cover is something that'll attract readers to buy your book. Keep it simple, but appealing. You've probably heard the saying 'don't judge a book by it's cover' but ask yourself'- when was that the case? When you walk around the bookstore, what attracts you is the cover; if it's well done, you're gonna read the synopsis, if not- you'll move along. Keep in mind that the cover is not gonna be as big as on the paperback, it's actually very small, so don't add too many small details. As I said, Keep it simple, but appealing. Also, bear in mind that you cannot use copyrighted material for your cover, unless authorized by the creator. This can be costly, so I recommend using your own pictures if you have any. Or ask a friend. In any case, you'll probably need to know your way through Photoshop. Even if you don't choose to use an actual photograph, you have to have to cover art. Familiarize yourself with Photoshop ( there are a lot of tutorials,  http://psd.tutsplus.com/ for example ) or ask a friend. Again, hiring a professional is expensive if you're a newbie author. If none of these work, check out the Wuiz competition on this blog. You get a chance of winning a customized cover art for your book! Good luck.

• Marketing, marketing, marketing. I cannot say this enough- marketing is the key to selling anything. Fail at that, and no one's even gonna hear about the book. Succeed, and you'll have a bestseller on your hands in no time. Now, there are a lot of different ways to do this. The easiest, but expensive one is to hire a publisher- they do all the work for you. Again, not a great solution for a newbie. Search the web for writing forums, or starting authors sites. You can always start a discussion there about you book. Or leave the link in the comments. Tell your friends, tell them to tell their friends. If you can afford it, I advice putting up some ads on sites like Facebook orTumblr. Put up a picture of the cover and a funny catch phrase and post it to Tumblr or Instagram. Those are the main marketing and propaganda sites out there today. You may not support it- but it's the truth. Another thing you can do is make a video promoting your book and upload it to Youtube. This is a great and fun way to promote. Keep it simple, light and funny. People don't want to watch a long, boring video about a book they've never even heard of. For this I suggest getting the best equipment possible, a lot of lighting and proper framing. Google 'how to make a video' if you really need it. 

• And at last, sit back and relax. You've done all you could. If you're publishing it now or in the near future, there is a good chance you'll get good sales. Also, check out the Wuiz competition bellow. You get a chance to win a customized cover for your new book. Good luck.

*For more help, comment bellow.