This is the time to register for a very special “hands-on” Writer’s Seminar.

TOPICS:

1. Publishing Your Book Locally and Globally by Val Waldeck. 

• How to get your book written quickly.
• How to get it published locally at minimum cost.
• How to get it published globally with Amazon at no cost.
• How to get it published in the Amazon Kindle store at no cost.

2. How To Prepare Your Book For Printing by Clive Thompson

• Book format and what programme to use.
• The Pro’s and Con’s of designing your own book.
• Adding colour sections: Cover / photo gallery / graphs.
• How to prepare PDFs to match Printer Specifications.

VENUE:  Westville Conference Centre, 18 Burlington Drive, Westville, Durban.

TIME:  09h00 – 12h30

COST:  R390 pp. But register before May 11 and get a R40 discount! Pay only R350.

Download the REGISTRATION FORM here:
http://pilgrimpublications.biz/durbanregistration2012-05.pdf

ENQUIRIES:  val@valwaldeck.com

By DAVID STREITFELD

These are uncertain times for many established writers, as the case of the Hawaiian novelist Kiana Davenport shows. Until recently she had a deal with Riverhead Books, a literary line that is a division of Penguin, for a Civil War novel, “The Chinese Soldier’s Daughter.” Ms. Davenport received an initial $20,000 advance for the tale, which was scheduled for publication next summer. That wasn’t enough money to survive on, so the writer cast about for another source of income, and self-published a book of old stories on Amazon. The result: Her novel has been canceled, the publisher wants its money back, and her publishing career is in jeopardy.

I gave a brief account of what happened in an article published Monday, but some of the reaction was frankly disbelieving. Would a publisher really cancel a novel and demand its money back under these circumstances? Many writers seem to be successfully bridging the gap between mainstream publishers and self-publishers; perhaps there are additional elements at play here. Ms. Davenport and Penguin officials declined to be interviewed. But the correspondence between lawyers backs up the writer’s tale as outlined in her blog.

Publishing contracts have not evolved as fast as the self-publishing opportunities for writers, making this case somewhat murky. But much of the commentary I’ve seen comes down harshly on Ms. Davenport for supposedly violating her contract – as if these agreements were always ironclad and any deviation was punished by cancellation. There was little sympathy for a mid-list writer adrift on the digital seas, and no mention of what a publisher’s responsibility is to a writer during the years it takes to produce a new book.

Here’s the back story: Ms. Davenport took some award-winning old stories off the shelf and published them as an e-book, something many professional writers are doing with material they cannot get in print any other way. “Cannibal Nights,” which appeared in July, was her second e-book of short fiction. Downloads were modest.

Penguin learned of the new work and got upset. In a brief letter
that Penguin’s general counsel, Karen Mayer, sent to the writer, it said the publication of “ ‘Cannibal Nights’ by Amazon violates the ‘next-work’ representation, the no-compete provision and the option clause.” Penguin also said Ms. Davenport had thereby demonstrated her “unwillingness to work in good faith with us” toward publication of the novel. The letter ended by saying the writer had 10 days to repay her advance “to avoid legal action.”

Penguin stated in mid-September that this was “a straightforward matter involving the publisher’s right to publish the author’s next work. It is being handled by the lawyers.”

Jan Constantine, a lawyer for the Authors Guild, wrote a letter to Penguin on behalf of Ms. Davenport. She said that the stories had been offered to Penguin 15 years ago and turned down, that Riverhead had already seen the novelist’s next novel and said it was not interested at this time and that a self-published e-book was hardly competition to the novel but might even promote it.

“In fact,” Ms. Constantine wrote, “the marketplace experience has shown unequivocally that eBooks by Ms. Davenport which are available on Kindle and elsewhere would most likely lift sales of her books since she is building a fan-base by her online presence. Any expert in the publishing world would support that conclusion.”

Penguin was unpersuaded. It had no further comment Monday. Neither did Ms. Davenport’s lawyer, Donald David.

Oct. 18, 2011.

Although the “fr” is used because of Kindle Direct Publishing’s launch into France, these books will be read in the US, the UK, Germany, and more than 100 other countries. Payments will be made in US dollars, Euros, or British pounds. Authors will continue to own the rights to their books, which is an important factor to them.

John Locke, for one, jumped on the bandwagon early and has sold more than one million Kindle books through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). He and many others should give encouragement to authors and publishers everywhere to consider this amazing opportunity.

Also launched on October 7th was the Amazon.fr.Kindle Store to service France, Belgium, Monaco, Luxembourg and Switzerland with a selection of more than 35,000 French-language Kindle books.

Source: Technology

In recent months, the individual books in Martin’s multi-novel fantasy epic, A Song of Ice and Fire, have vaulted to the top of best-seller lists with the release of the fifth book in the series, A Dance with Dragons, and the successful first season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, based on the first of a planned seven novels set in the fantasy realm of Westeros.

“Groucho Marx once said, ‘I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member,’ but even Groucho might have made an exception for the Kindle Million Club,” said Martin, a one-time television writer who worked on Beauty and the Beast and the revamped Twilight Zone.

“It’s a real thrill to be inducted into this one. There are no dues, no meetings, and I’ll be in some wonderful and exclusive company. But really, all the credit here goes to the people who made it possible—to Amazon, my publishers, my editors, and most of all, my readers. I owe this to everyone who ever read one of my books and recommended it to a friend. Thanks, and keep reading. The best is yet to come.”

Martin joins an eclectic group of authors in Amazon’s “Kindle Million Club,” which includes the late Swedish crime novelist Stieg Larsson, young adult author Suzanne Collins, and English philosopher John Locke.

“George R.R. Martin’s series is simply epic,” said Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle Content, in a statement. “And an elaborate series like this is great on Kindle because you can turn the last page of book three at 10:30 at night, then buy book four and be on its first page at 10:31.”

Here is the list of all 11 authors who have sold more than a million books made for Amazon’s Kindle ereader in the Kindle store, along with some of their best-known works:

The Kindle Million Club

1. Lee Child—Killing Floor, Without Fail
2. Suzanne Collins—The Underwood Chronicles, The Hunger Games
3. Michael Connelly—Hieronymus Bosch novels, Mickey Haller novels
4. Janet Evanovich— Stephanie Plum novels
5. Charlaine Harris—Sookie Stackhouse novels (source for HBO’s hit series True Blood)
6. Stieg Larsson—The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest
7. John Locke—Two Treatises of Government, Some Thoughts Concerning Education
8. George R.R. Martin—A Song of Ice and Fire
9. James Patterson—Alex Cross novels
10. Nora Roberts—The Heart’s Victory, Angels Fall
11. Kathryn Stockett—The Help

Who’s next? It could be you!

Val Waldeck
Author of Kindle Publishing Made Easy

I am absolutely amazed at the way Kindle books are selling in the Kindle Store. The traffic is HUGE and my books are selling faster there than anywhere else on the web, including my own Online Bookstore.

“I had heard a nasty rumour that trying to format a book for the Kindle e-reader involved much blood, sweat and tears! This was proved not to be true. Using Val Waldeck’s book Kindle Publishing Made Easy, I put a 35,000 word book onto Kindle in two evenings. How exciting it is to suddenly see the cover of your book on Kindle and be able to read it as an e-book! Kindle Publishing Made Easy is easy-to-follow and amply provided with screenshots, which even a person without much technical knowledge can follow. Each section is followed by ‘Action Steps’ which you can use to check that you have done all that you need to do before proceeding to the next step. I really recommend this book to anyone who wants to see their book available on Kindle, the fastest-growing format for reading since the invention of the printing press!” — Anne Erikson, Editor (Anne.erikson@gmail.com)

If you want to know how to professionally format and publish your books, ebooks and short reports in the Kindle Store, take a look at my special eGuide “Kindle Publishing Made Easy.”

Val

P.S. I LOVE my Kindle!

Louise Voss, 42, shot to the top of the Kindle charts after publishing the book in digital form herself after being rejected by literary agents.

It attracted the attention of publishers HarperFiction, which offered her a six-figure, four-book deal.

As a result, her ebook Catch Your Death will also be printed and stocked in bookshops in the traditional way.

She learned how to publish her own material after studying for an MA in creative writing at Kingston University.

She made it available on Kindles and iPhones, using an Amazon service which allows writers to turn their manuscripts into digital books.

Ms Voss promoted the book using social networking and by asking independent reviewers, who specialise in reviewing self-published books, to write about it online.

As a result the book made it into the top 100, and worked its way up to the number one UK download position. It stayed at the top spot for the whole of June and sold 50,000 copies.

At one point a second novel written by her and writing partner Mark Edwards was at number two. Ms Voss, from West Molesey, who is divorced and has a 13-year-old daughter Gracie, said: “Everything has happened very fast, although it feels like a culmination of a lot of hard work.

“I did an MA in creative writing at Kingston University a couple of years ago. It gave me loads of advice on publishing as well as writing.”

Ms Voss said she thinks the book was successful because its low price encouraged people to take a chance on it. She also generated publicity.

“Initially I emailed everyone I knew to ask them to buy the book. Then we approached a lot of indie reviewers on line. When it started going up the charts it was really surreal. We were going past Michael McIntyre and Stieg Larsson.”

The deal which HarperFiction has done with Ms Voss and her writing partner, will allow her to go part-time at her job in the music department of Kingston university.

Ms Voss said it cost nothing to put the book on Amazon, but she paid some money to use an image of the front cover on the site. She made around £20,000 from the combined sales of Catch Your Death – a thriller about a deadly virus – and her second book, Killing Cupid.

Alison Baverstock, her former tutor at Kingston, said: “Louise’s writing was always very good but her effective marketing, and the fact that they were able to prove there is a market for their work, has made publishers and agents come running to her.

“She moved from being yet another person vying for their attention to someone who was able to command it. It seems the tables have turned and authors are now driving publishing companies.”

Can you do this? Learn how with my special eGuide – Kindle Publishing Made Easy – http://kindlepublishingmadeeasy.com – nominee for the Global eBooks Award 2011.

Amazon are selling literally millions of Kindle books and hundreds of thousands of eager buyers are surfing the Kindle Store every day, looking for new releases. Quite a few authors have already sold in excess of one million Kindle books.

This is a great platform with lots of busy traffic to showcase YOUR books, manuals, guides and even short reports on topics you are passionate about.

I offer a Kindle Publishing Service which will help you to speedily
prepare and publish your book.

Click here for more information:
http://valwaldeck.com/KindlePublishingService

Val Waldeck
Author: Kindle Publishing Made Easy

This means an author only has to sell 14,327 copies to earn slightly more than $100,000 in royalties. Or, in other words, you only need to sell 39 copies per day to hit the $100K mark in a year.

Selling eBooks at lower prices – e.g. under $4 – is a great way to get traffic. It costs nothing but your time! And some expertise in formatting. See my Kindle Publishing Made Easy eGuide for more information on that.

Check out the kind of books selling on Kindle and their prices to give you a good idea what you should be charging. Think about what you are willing to pay yourself.

Write about popular subjects, your specific area of expertise and interests. Invest in a good graphic for the book’s cover. People DO try to tell what’s in a Kindle book by the cover and not just the description alone so that investment could easily pay for itself. I recommend you visit www.getclive.com for expert eBook – and book – covers. (This is not an affiliate link – Clive really is good and he designs most of my covers. Visit my bookshop at Pilgrim Publications for some examples of his work. My amateur efforts will stand out in sharp contrast!).

Many people are spending money on iPads and Kindles and phones instead of computers and this is the place to be right now. It is generally believed that Kindle’s market share for eBooks is at 60 to 65 percent, while Apple’s hovers around 10 percent. Their eBookstore carries around 200 000 titles, while the Kindle store has over 950 000 titles.

By the way, if you haven’t got a Kindle yourself download a free one for your PC from Amazon.com. Soon you will want the portable one. It’s a superb eReader.

Val Waldeck

Kindle Publishing Made Easy
by Val Waldeck

Kindle Publishing is in the news right now. Amazon say they are selling more Kindle books than hardcovers or softcovers! Now is the time to get your book, ebook, short reports published in the Kindle Store while we are still ahead of the rush.

Click here for more information about Kindle Publishing Made Easy

Hold thumbs for me!

Val

The traffic on Amazon is very big and this is the place to be right now. Discover how you can get your books and ebooks – and even short reports – published in the Amazon Kindle Store.

Here’s what people are saying about my special eGuide:

Get your copy here and start publishing Kindle books TODAY!

http://kindlepublishingmadeeasy.com

Val