I  was asked “I want to start trying to sell my work…publish it [my writing] at least in any format really.  I just feel like I don’t know where to start. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.

This was my reply:

“There are several ways you could move forward, and the following are suggestions for you that give you two main routes, hard copy book publishing, and ebook publishing. Either way will mean you will have to do some marketing

HARD COPY PUBLISHING
There are forum sites that offer support, but many publishers will only accept pre-certified work. In this case you could get your writing checked over by writers for writers at such as www.writersworkshop.co.uk

One publisher worth checking out is at http://raiderpublishing.com/ owned by Adam Salviani. For hard copy publishing with a difference - they are probably the only publisher that gives over 50% royalties to the writer and they help with marketing, book tours etc.
When you get to the site click on UK & Ireland or US to enter the site and thoroughly check them out and some of their results, before getting it into an agreement with them or pay them any money, as I am not a writer of the same genre as you and haven’t tested them. However over 50% royalties as opposed to the usual 10% is definately not to be sniffed at and worth looking into further.

CO-AUTHORING: This is where co-authoring with one or several writers are published in the same book but it usually means you have to pay for the privilege. However there is usually a well known name or two helping drive sales to this and get you calling yourself a co-author. You can pay double or so to be featured on the front cover with the well known author participating. They are usually best sellers because featured authors are also promoting the book to their lists. In which case the steps below apply too. Think very carefully before going down this route as it is costly. You could be scammed if you don’t do your research thoroughly and check they are bone fide.

SELF-PUBLISHING:
This is ideal if you have a small budget, but you need to follow a plan. I’m sure you have heard that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. So below are just some suggestions if you want to go your own way initially and cheaply. I will go over them broadly, then summarize them afterwards in order of what I think would work well without over complicating things. This is do-able, and you can do it as long as you work towards your goals some every day!

Quick Start On-Line Self Publishing:

Choose two domain names from $6.95  each at GoDaddy - one with your name to protect it for the future (you might become a best selling author!). The other with keywords relevant to what your book is about, or the title of your book, in your Url.

http://www.Mixiv.com is a very good site to explore, and begin monetizing an electronic book and/or audio quickly, and even publicize via podcasts on this site too. You will find several ways to package your work and you can easily set up a free account - then decide what level of membership would work for you.You can create your payment system instantly with a click and be ready to sell very quickly and no hassle with delivery. There is free and subscriber membership and it would cost you very little to get started.

Become a micro publisher -
Write and create pages on www.hubpages.com and www.squidoo.com and you will find search engines love them. You create a single creative long page with modules you can choose to help you add a range of content. Write about how to write, or poetry, or something you love or are knowledgeable about. These are favored by Search engines and so are very useful for getting fans and placing links in them to send traffic to your sales page or blog..

*Make sure the heading on these pages is chosen well - one with a short keywords (like this one) What might isearchers type in the search box to find you, and best describes what your page is about.

Have links in everything you write, with keywords in them that are relevant to the subject of books or writing, so Search Engines can determine what you do.

Keep building your Facebook friends, and start a group -
Build your friends on Facebook, join the pages of writers you admire on here or on others similar social networking sites. You will find some of their fans will ask to join you as you both love the same author etc. Ask if you can connect with others who are members or fans of these writers you admire but especially writers in a similar vein.  Keep writing your Notes but save some unique content for your book to come - pace your notes and publish a page at a time from your book especially if it has a story line - give them the start and let them get to know the characters and have it matter to them what happens next - so much they want to know the rest of the story - by buying your book.  I suggest you Join Twitter too!

Write an article -
About you or about writing, and then go to www.articleapps.com and get coverage by online news publishers (make each article unique - there is a way to do this)
There are many online publishers but if you can get accepted on these two you will get traffic, (there is a charge for an anchor text link to your site if you want this).
www.ezine.com
www.prwebcom.
Check the format you need to comply to and make sure you have a link under your signature to where your book/audio is etc. Make sure you stipulate whether your articles can be syndicated, and if so make sure they keep it intact. Of course you have links to your webpages, sales pages etc.

Virtual Book Tours -
Consider Virtual Book Tours and get your ebook etc on other sites too. Carefully consider before paying any money over. It should be possible to agree a % split of the selling price as a Joint Venture ( a written agreement would be needed)

Make a Video  -
You or a friend could create a 3 minute video that could become viral, with creative imagery to reflect your reading, you could get quite a following.
You must put a strong call to action at the end of the video - this could be the URL of where you want the audience to go next - your blog or salespage. Consider using www.tubemogul.com (free)  or www.TrafficGeiser.com and they will  post your videos in various formats to up to 70 different video posting sites.

The Step by step Plan Overview :
This is a framework of a plan for creating your ebook and related products and marketing using the power of the web:

You can either follow the advice of a publisher and/ or the following

1. Look over websites I have suggested above and get acquainted.

2. Create a PDF & Word ebook even if it is 35 pages, from what you have written already (you can always change or add to an ebook !). Set up a passcode to protect against someone selling illegal copies and remember to put your copyright at the bottom. Make your book a PDF if you can.

3. Write the copy for a sales page (get ideas from other salespages of online successful writers. ask to have it checked over by an online marketer/copywriter, then register with MIXIV.com, upload your book (and Audio if you made one at this point - studio or good quality) and follow by scheduling a podcast  (you reading or someone reading for you) and you and your social networking friends will probably be very happy to tell their friends on Facebook etc

4. Write a hubpage & Squidoo page. They are very easy to do, with modules to add interesting content such as images and videos etc. Write further pages and link them to each other as well as placing links to your book etc
You can probably put one together in 45 minutes and you can re-edit them at any time.

5. Write an article for www.ezine.com and www.prweb.com (each must be unique) and include in the Author Bio information an anchor text link to your ebook salespage (an anchor text link is just a keyword rich set of words to click on instead of “click here” which gives no hint at all to the search engines.

6. Get your site bookmarked by everyone you know with such as digg, plaxo, bebo, myspace, iFaves, furl etc. On Facebook or My Space become a fan or Join a page or join Twitter to follow well known writers you admire - you will find they soon start to follow you too. This way they will become a fan of yours. Join Groups that enjoy reading similar writing, and people will also then come to you. And do all this without selling to them (you can’t send people to a “squeeze page” from here - it isn’t etiquette). When you start to plan a build up to a launch there will be many who will want to help you .

7. Get on the radio if you are OK with this - there are lots of online radio stations looking for people to interview.

8. Nearer to the Podcast dates scale up the strategy of getting people to register for it. Then hold the Podcast - get someone capable of giving you a good introduction and interact with you- it will make for a lively event.

9. Add the podcast/audio to your MIXIV salespage and offer your ebook for sale as one item, or audio recording of podcast for sale as one item, or buy both at a special offer (3rd Bundle price), More choice of formats usually means more buyers with different preferences.

10. If you can get a good recording then consider having it put on CD/DVD with designed cover and posted to the customer. This adds greater perceived value. All of this can be done for you by a fulfillment company once you get going. Let me know if you need a contact for this.

The best bit is - it doesn’t have to be complete or perfect to start selling your work! You can sell  a 30 page work to be going on with and you can make adjustments from feedback comments. And if they love it they will want more - and you are well on your way to preparing for full hard copy publishing with a fan base.

Keep building like-minded friends and writing your Notes on Facebook as you are doing - you are creating content for your book anyway. And start a group. There is almost as much traffic to Facebook as there is to Google!

Just do one step at a time, but do it every day, and if you need a break, write another hubpage or squidoo lens!

The main thing is just do the steps above, do what you do best which is write, and you already have the advantage. Consider yourself a writer and writing will market you. Pretty much all the steps are above (all writers have to be unless they are a celebrity these days). Just get something online - and you can tweak it after; then drive traffic to it with the rest.

To avoid overwhelm stick to your plan and use a timer. Sit down , set it and do nothing else for say 45 minutes at a time (use the Online Stopwatch in the Tools and Resources page if you don’t have one)

Physically draw a Time Line Chart and mentally visualize dropping the events into it to keep you mentally focused and on track: with these steps and events in mind and clearly drawn up in a linear fashion over the next 3 months - hang this on a wall and refer to it frequently. Then close your eyes, and in a relaxed state, imagine a Time Line with these items dropped into place like slides, for a week -month -6-8-12 month periods (it can always be changed  in light of new information).  This helps you to be focused and reach your goals

Technical Help

If you can outsource - do it.  For Technical Help with putting together graphics, sales pages etc for a fraction of what you imagine it would cost, you can use Scriptlance or Elance, Rentacoder or Mturk. All are great for posting a project. You need to register and check the protocol for setting up your project, and explain clearly what you want i.e. your book cover, salespage, website and the maximum you are willing to pay. You can shave off months of going live and let you get on with writing and marketing. There is a small commission charge on completion, and all payments are via agency (Scriptlance etc) which can be eafely made via Escrow if you prefer

Important - read the feedback reviews, & check samples of their work, before making a decision - for everyone who submits an offer to your project. And after the work is done you post marks out of 10 and a written short review to add to their Scriptlance portfolio - and they will give a review about you!

To Your Success!
Annette

photo credit: Andrew Feinberg