> If any of you have some ideas or things that you
> do to keep you motivated, would you please share them with me?

Greetings,

Before I go any further, please forgive me if the paragraphs seem disconnected. I’m answering this on the fly between working on other projects throughout the day as the thoughts come to me. Whenever my motivation has been low for whatever reason, I’ve always found it best to take it back old school: Write in baby steps. Set aside at LEAST 10 minutes a day to writing, whether it’s working on a manuscript, notes regarding parts of a manuscript, researching stuff for your manuscript, ideas for other stories, random thoughts, or even reading about writing as a craft and thinking about how to apply it to your manuscript. The beauty in setting aside this 10 minutes a day is that even if you’ve got a family and kids it can be done–just take a notebook or a book with you into the bathroom. The trick here is to come to terms with the fact that no matter how high your personal standards are, everything you write CANNOT be “Hemmingway” — so don’t try to make it as such. Some days you will write great stuff, other days it may come out garbage. Don’t be afraid to delete anything from a manuscript, whether it’s a single word, paragraph, or an entire chapter. The key is to just write like it’s a nervous habit. I’m constantly learning that the more you write and learn about the craft by reading about structure or analyzing other books and movies based on books, the better your writing will become.

Think of writing like acting, singing, or even weightlifting — it’s essentially a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. Start with that consistent 10 minutes a day and you’ll be up to an hour a day and beyond pretty quick. Once you’re at that point, even on the days when you don’t physically write, your mind is still at work on the manuscript. For me it kinda feels like what I’d imagine how a Director visualizes shots while storyboarding a movie. Another thing that I’ve found that helps me is to take time out from writing prose to developing the characters that are going to be in the manuscript. I used to scribble character notes on index cards; now I just keep all that in a string of notes files. There are also programs floating around out there like “New Novelist” that can help with this fleshing out the dimensions of your characters. If you’re into the basics and writing something other than simple genre fiction, define your character’s Hopes, Dreams and Fears. Once you’ve got that, you’ll notice that your characters will come to life because now they have purpose beyond just names on a page. Once they have purpose you’ll probably find it harder to have “writer’s block” since even if you’re not working on the manuscript itself, you’ll be consciously and unconsciously digging up all sorts of things that will make your characters grow. One thing that has worked for me was putting together a Writer’s Kit. Mine has been “The Black Bag”, a Black leather [laptop] backpack. It contains the following:

• a digital notebook (used to be a laptop, now just a PocketPC),
• a digital recorder (the Olympus DM-1 with 10 hours of recording time has proven to be invaluable for on-the-spot interviews and taking mental notes when I’m unable to stop and write),
• a journal-style notebook with 3 or 4 pens (including a highlighter and red pen),
• a printed copy of my current manuscript for markup,
• an MP3 player (that also doubles as a portable data storage device),
• misc batteries and power adapters,
• and sometimes a digital camera (when traveling or for special occasions).

The Black Bag has enabled me to capture sights and sounds and write almost all of my manuscript away from home–in airports, trains, planes, bars, and restaurants from Virginia to California to New York to the Virgin Islands and everywhere between. I can’t say what will work for you, but this has enabled me to consistently work on my manuscript at *least* 2 hours a day, whether it’s writing, compiling info, or research. Anyway, hope some of those thoughts and ideas help.

Good luck with it.

– Max

It’s a balmy 77 degrees this morning, expected to rocket into the 90s within a few hours. There’s alot going on in the area but chances are I’ll skip most of it. The heat, the crowds, and the hoopla seem to have much less appeal with each passing year. There’s a Sopranos marathon being shown on A&E and something tells me I’ll probably be watching it off and on and reading up on writing screenplays until after sunset.

Memorial Day to me, for whatever reason, always comes with a combination of optimistic Summer expectations and a hint of reflective melancholy for simpler times and those who couldn’t be here. Of course there are marches here and there to honor the fallen vets but what I never hear about are the other casualties of war — some of the vets who returned psychologically and emotionally scarred from putting their lives on the line and their families and marriages that ultimately paid the price.

I think back to Memorial Day weekend, 1975. My father was a Chief Petty Officer on the USS Belknap at the time. He was in his early 30s and most of the guys under his command were in their late teens to early 20s. That weekend he decided to have a cookout and invite all his friends, my adopted uncles and aunts, and his guys. Everyone partied like, well, like sailors. Blow-out afros, women wearing shorts and skirts with pretty legs, and dudes with open-chest shirts with most of the buttons undone. Funk, Jazz and Soul music seemed to be everywhere I went, inside and out. Beer and booze was flowing. Anything that ever had feathers, fins or hooves ended up on the grill.  There were even a few people smoking joints here and there, including enlisted men and a couple of people I’d swear were officers at the time. As some of the guys got nice and wasted, they began to relive sea stories about their collective adventures while on shore leave in different countries. I remember that in more than a few of the tales there was a drunken brawl of some sort and my father would end up jumping into it to pull his guys out of the fire, get them safely back to the ship, or in some other way scramble to pull one of them out of trouble. By that time they didn’t care that I was a 6-year old kid hanging out listening to the unadulterated mayhem of grown folks, although anytime my mother or father walked up on a conversation they’d send me to my room. Once they were gone I would sneak back in to listen to their stories, and they had no problem telling them with me around, almost as if I was a little brother in some strange way out of respect for my father. The next morning I remember walking downstairs to watch PBS, the only pre-cable TV source of children’s shows on a Sunday, and discovered that most of his guys had just passed out wherever they found a spot — on the floor, on the couches, in chairs, in doorways, and even on the patio.

I don’t remember whether it was days or weeks later but the next thing I recall is the Belknap heading back out to sea for what seemed like it would be forever. Unlike today where there’s instant communication through the Internet, I remember we, as in Navy families, were lucky if we could speak to our loved ones once every month or so. Since a 10-minute international phone call was more expensive than some utility bills, letters were the cheapest way to go. The seasons had gone from Summer to Fall. Thanksgiving was a few days away. My mother, little brother Jason and I were over at Aunt Montrose’s house. Jason and I were downstairs playing and watching TV when a news bulletin flashed across the screen, something involving the Belknap. I didn’t fully understand what was being said but it also involved The John F Kennedy and I could tell by the news anchor’s expression that it wasn’t good. When I ran upstairs to tell the adults they thought I had seen one of the “Bicentennial Minutes”, on which the Belknap was supposed to be featured at some point. I kept repeating that it wasn’t one of the Bicentennial Minutes and that something bad had happened. My adamant attempts to get them to take me seriously were brushed off as the mistaken musings of a then 7-year old boy. The problem was that I didn’t catch all of news cast to repeat it verbatim. Had I remembered the word “collision” it would have put everything into perspective.

As it turned out, the U.S.S. Belknap (a guided missile cruiser) and the U.S.S. John F Kennedy (a supercarrier, the largest of the aircraft carriers) had collided just off the coast of Sicily, Italy. A few days had passed before we got confirmation that my father was alive and well. Soon after that all the men were flown back to one of the local Naval bases. I was the first to run up and jump into my father’s arms and, somehow, that was the first time I’d sensed that he wasn’t the same man he was when he left. In the days and months to come I learned that it was my father’s men were on watch that night and were the first to begin fighting the fires when it happened. They also comprised most of the seven casualties on the Belknap side, many of the very same faces that had been partying at the house that past Memorial Day.

These days, the doctors probably would have diagnosed my father and many others from that fateful trip with some form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder shortly after they returned home. I’m almost positive of this because my father was never the same after that. Without getting too deep with the family dirty laundry, a few years later my parents separated, the beginning of a long ugly divorce and my brothers and I growing up alienated from our father for years. Echoes of those times constantly remind me that every military casualty has collateral damage, sometimes that carries on for years, the kind that is rarely acknowledged at the parades.

My father rescued the Ship’s Bell from the wreckage, smuggled it back stateside, had it acid-dipped and re-engraved, and placed it inside of a custom-made maple cabinet. Along with the court marshal of Captain Shaffer, the Navy searched high and low for the bell amidst rumors and speculation. As far as I know, the missing Belknap bell is probably among one of the US Navy’s longest running unsolved mysteries. Outside of maybe answering a question or two about the incident itself, my father never talked about the fires or his lost comrades again. Their memories reside in the bell cabinet, beneath the bell in his last Belknap yearbook on a memorial page for the seven Belknap casualties and one on the Kennedy.

So, for this Memorial Day, I also dedicate my thoughts and prayers to the families and friends who were forever affected by loved ones who were lost or wounded in the U.S. military in service to our country.

When it comes to self-publishing, there are proverbially 1,001 rookie mistakes that can make it all the way to the final print run. Once in print, the problem is that they’re all expensive to fix and any of them are enough to get your book declined for review by major book reviewers, declined by the major chain bookstores, declined by distributors, and then some. Why? Because the various strata of the book publishing industry are FULL of elitists. Most of these people are in positions to review your book or cut a deal to sell/distribute it. When they spot one of those 1,001 amateur mistakes (usually visible between the cover and the first 10 pages) they often toss the book aside, not even bothering to read it.

How does a self-publisher reduce their chances of making those mistakes? Research. Expect to spend at least between $75 and $250 dollars on books to learn the basics. Buy these books and keep them in your library because you’re going to need to review them over and over again from manuscript preparation all the way to the marketplace. If you’re not willing to invest this money into preliminary research, do yourself a favor and forget about self-publishing altogether. Professional quality books just don’t happen by themselves — they come about through production experience, whether your own experience or someone else’s. Buying the following books are the cheapest way to get that experience:

• The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (this is a MUST have for anyone that’s serious about writing, editing and/or publishing). Costs about $60 dollars. The CMoS contains almost everything you could conceivably need to know about editing, the manuscript preparation process, and how to format every inch of a standard book.
• The Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print, and Sell Your Own Book by Dan Poynter (or some other book on the basics of self-publishing; there are several on the market and there’s no harm in reading more than one).

There are other books you’ll need but these will get you started. After reading the self-publishing stuff you’ll get a better fix on the process and know whether or not it’s truly for you. If after reading those you decide that you still want to pursue publishing your own book, here’s a real rough ballpark of how much you can expect to spend on production:

• Editing: up to $4.00 per page (there are different types of editors and some kinds of books will require more than one editor). Many freelance editors will charge you a flat rate that works out to be roughly $1 or $2 dollars a page. Typically I budget for at least $500 or $600 dollars (including manuscript printing and shipping).
• Cover Design: usually no less than $500 and no more than $3000 for a professional design with custom graphics and photographs and the rights to all of the above.
• Interior Design: around $2.00 per page (more for graphic-heavy pages), can be packaged with the cover design depending on the deal you work out with the graphic designer.
• ISBN numbers: Around $270 dollars. These come in a minimum block of 10. Buying them will also get you into the Bowker’s “Books in Print” database. No ISBN number means your book is not officially published, so don’t even think about skipping this step. Check with R.R. Bowker, the exclusive U.S. ISBN and SAN Agency for current prices.
• Bar code: Around $10 dollars, sometimes free depending on who you know. The bar code will contain the ISBN number and often the price, too. Most bookstores won’t even consider stocking your product without a bar code.
• BISAC Subject Heading: This category designation is usually on the top left of the back of the book or near the price. The official source is the Book Industry Study Group’s “BISAC Subject Heading Package”, sold for $25 dollars from their website. I’ve seen the complete listing online for free so the price is debatable, but you want to have your book’s category noted on the back cover so bookstore clerks know how to stock your title. I’ve had independent bookstore owners tell me if they receive book submission packages that don’t have a BISAC code on the back cover they won’t even open the book.

NOTE: These solely relate to production costs and does NOT cover the costs associated with printing or shipping.

So, all in all, to self-publish a professional-quality 224-page novel if you budget for $6000 you’ll probably cover your initial production costs. If you cut a deal with an experienced graphic designer you can easily cut that cost in half, meaning that the $6000 will also cover printing the first few hundred or so. The beauty is, once it’s paid off, it is paid off, and for every print run after that your major overhead is the cost of printing.

And before all the Author Mill and Lulu champions chime in to recommend those services, by self-publishing this way you have a much greater chance of having your title noticed by a major literary agency and possibly picked up by a major publisher. I know this from personal experience since one of the titles I recently published and packaged, NEXT STOP by Ivan Sanchez, was picked up by Levine Greenberg Literary Agency and recently sold to Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Bohemian Griot Publishing LLC and Ivan Sanchez also made the deal happen WITHOUT selling Touchstone the film/TV rights or the audio book rights, both of which they have joint ownership with in two other production companies. So, yeah, trust me when I say if you’re going to self-publish, this is the way to go.

Hope that helps put things into perspective.

As always, best of luck on your path.

– Max

“There’s nothing new under the Sun.”
– King Solomon

The short answer to your question is that spending alot of time worrying about how to protect your book concept is a waste of time.

It would be easy to recommend the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) or NDNCAs and having people sign them each time you share your book concept. It would make people liable if they shared or used your concept without your permission. On the real, I wouldn’t bother with that approach. You’ll probably come off like you’re suffering from delusions of grandeur if you did.

For what it’s worth, it seems like the lurking fear of the Dastardly Idea Snatcher is almost always connected to writers who either (1) have been writing (with the intention of getting published) for less than a year, (2) haven’t finished their first book/novel yet or (3) haven’t ever had their work picked up by a paying publisher. The times that I’ve had writers submit manuscripts for my review and they were rabidly paranoid about ‘theft’, more often than not their concept was structurally unusable, the story was a slice of their life thinly disguised as fiction, or their writing was straight up garbage and it’d be too expensive to pay some editors to fix it.

Here are some down-n-dirty truths about book concepts:

• No matter how fantastic you might think your book concept is, the reality is that 99.98% of the serious writers you tell about it won’t try to steal it. It’s not because everyone is honest and well-meaning. More often than not, it’s because they really don’t care. They might pretend to care or they’re listening only because they care about you and what you have to say. When it comes to book concepts, every seasoned writer has at least several of them swimming around in their heads that they plan to turn into a book one day, not including the concepts they’ve already started writing or put down in notes form. Whether they say so or not, most writers like to believe that their book ideas are better than almost everyone else’s. In their minds stealing your concept would be like a diamond miner trying to steal a cubic zirconia. Aside from that, on the occasions where writers seek to copy book concepts its usually due to the fact that a certain book or story type has enjoyed huge commercial success and they want to cash in on some of that money. The music industry does the same thing, hence the reason why it seems like everytime a Beyonce hits the scene and skyrockets up the charts, at least two or three Rhiannas and Ciarras will pop up with the same style songs and videos, all from competing record labels.
• Another reality is that if you’re spending alot of time describing very intimate details of your book concept to friends/family/other writers, you’re not spending enough time actually writing it. There’s a reason that writing is a very solitary kind of activity and it’s not because writers have to be anti-social. Writing a book is nowhere near as much fun as the emotional high of bragging about the story you’re writing. Also, talking about ideas over and over again have a way of taking the magic and creative steam out of your drive to put in the work to make it happen, especially if you’re discussing it with people that don’t believe in you or don’t really know what it is to write a book. When asked about a book you’re working on, unless you’re talking to an agent or acquisitions editor, keep the talk pretty general and minimal, no matter how much you want to tell the world about your master work in progress. Think about it like this — don’t spend much time talking about your book because it has no dollar value until the manuscript is finished.
• Your book concept is your vision. If you’re meant to write it, no one is going to write the story like you’re going to write it.
• “The Poor Man’s Copyright” (mailing a copy to yourself) does NOT work so don’t even bother doing it. When you finish your manuscript and it’s edited, go to http://www.copyright.gov, download Form TX, fill it out, put a copy of the manuscript along with the $45 dollar registration fee in an Express Mail envelope and send it in. The Copyright is legally binding as of the postmark of when it’s mailed; 4-6 weeks later you’ll get the copyright form back with a certification seal on it. Again, a complete waste of time to think about until you’ve FINISHED a manuscript because you can’t copyright or trademark a book concept.
• And as far as the worry about being sued because of inspiration, stop worrying about silly stuff — finish the book first. An editor can always help you go back in later to clean things up.

Good luck on the quest…

– Max Nomad

At last your book is finished. It’s edited, the layout is complete, and it’s ready to be sent off to press. You’re so amped to get the first printing back and smell the ink on the first copy. Whether you know it or not, it’s at this crossroads that you’re faced with a crucial part of the self-publishing process that is just as important as the book itself. Many self-publishers merrily move forward without this component only to condemn their book to a fate that can be described as launching a multistage rocket that fails to burn to the second stage. This component isn’t necessarily the Holy Grail to fame and fortune although it’s arguably the next best thing. We’re talking about The Press Kit.

The best time to start putting this together is around the time that you’re nearing the end of editing process, optimally between 3 and 6 months prior to sending the book off to print. A few of the reasons for this:

1. The obvious — you must put your best foot forward. No room for noticeable content changes, grammatical errors or even typos. Past experience has taught me that changes will continue happening right up to the night before the book goes off to print. Again, you’ll want plenty of time to make sure the excerpts from your book are perfect.
2. it’s much easier to pull excerpts from the book to include in the kit. Few things are more annoying than sending out a bunch of Press Kits only to realize that the excerpts you chose would’ve been much better had you waited.
3. when it comes to obtaining book reviews it can take up to three months to get a response. NOTE: Don’t be discouraged if it takes that long to get a ‘No Thank You’ letter — it happens. You’ll want to use blurbs from the reviews for inclusion on the Book Sheet (Synopsis), Sell Sheet and/or Press Release.

When it comes to impressing book reviewers, interviewers and even movie producers, the way to do it (without spending thousands of dollars) is through a world-class press kit. Crisp, clean design without outrageous use of a ton of fonts or sloppy graphics. There’s no way to stress how much neatness counts because this kit is essentially all your countless days of passionate writing wrapped up in a sleek, sexy package. A simple yet effective rule of thumb to work by is this: if any part of your package doesn’t look like a page out of a major newspaper or magazine that’s a sign it should be reworded, redone, or completely omitted.

Your press kit should include the following sheets:

• Press Release: a one page article that explains who you are, what the book is about, and important information about the book’s publication. NOTE: if there are any relevant ties between your book and current events this should be the focal point of your article. The more newsworthy your article, the greater the chance it will get picked up for media distribution — including interviews. This sheet is best printed yourself because it’s subject to change.
• Book Sheet (Synopsis): a one page summary of your book. If it’s fiction it should include the plot and major themes. The key here is to sell the book with an engaging synopsis yet using as little “fluff” as possible. Most writers tend to be oblivious to the fact that the people receiving their press kit see hundreds of them in a week. They catch onto fluff as if it was a baby in need of a diaper change. The more fluff there is, the less they’ll take you (and your book) seriously.
• Author Biography: a one page life history. This should be an engaging summary of who you are; mostly interesting highlights of your life accomplishments with a splash of professional and academic achievements (e.g. — you backpacked across Germany, studied tribal tattoo art from Maori elders in New Zealand, parented three kids and wrote the book while also attending law school, and etc). This should particularly include those experiences you’ve had that make you an expert on your topic. This sheet is best printed yourself because it should be considered a ‘living document’, subject to change as you gain new accolades.
• Promo Photo: This is a bit of a toss-up because ultimately it’s a call best made based on the type of book you’ve written. With some schools of thought, a promo photo of the author isn’t necessary. Still, some publishers will include the promo photo as a 3.5″x2.5″ (or smaller) on the Sell Sheet. Others will say it is imperative, particularly if the author’s image can further perpetuate an appeal that is already part of the book (e.g. – a Playboy playmate writes a tell-all book about her life as a Bunny). If you decide to include a promo photo in your press kit, I would highly recommend paying a professional photographer to take these shots; be sure to get full-size digital copies of the images at 300dpi or higher. You’ll want to get the 8″x10″ so you can resize copies of the file for use of the Sell Sheet, Bio and even a poster (see the Image Processing section for the software necessary to resize images).
• Sell Sheet: a flyer that includes all the important information about your book; title, cover image, publication date, page count, ISBN, retail price, a paragraph book summary, a paragraph (summary) from the Author Biography, and blurbs from at least one or two reviews. If possible, this should be full-color, professionally printed on 100lb Text-Gloss paper.
• Endorsement Sheet: This sheet is definitely optional, mostly because it is only worth making if you’ve got more than four or five “celebrity” endorsements. By celebrity I mean any person whose name has a level of brand awareness to it that lends credibility to the subject of your book. For example, if you’ve written a book about 80s Rock and you manage to get a blurb from a Road Manager that once worked for Motley Crüe, this would definitly be a good celeb endorsement whereas Jimmy, the “80s-Rock-Guru at your local record store” wouldn’t quite be celeb enough. On that same note, someone like a Bret Michaels or Neal Pert would be fantastic. Overall, celeb endorsements are tough to get but if you’re lucky enough to get some, run with them like your life depends on it.

Production Budget:

Here’s the point where things get interesting — production. The software and design part of putting together the Press Kit is where everything can either come together nicely or get hairy real quick.

• Software: This is by far the trickiest part of putting together your Press Kit. These disciplines can be divided into Content Processing, Image Processing, Illustration and Desktop Publishing. All four of disciplines are worthy of their own textbooks, not to mention that each software package has its own learning curve. Each can be handled in one of two main ways — do it yourself or hire a professional. Both would have been potentially costly. This is because you’d either be buying all the software and learning to do it yourself or simply paying for the professional’s labor and letting them do the bulk of the work. Aside from software piracy, the main thing that changed this playing field was the advent of Free Open Source Software (FOSS).

For those of you that don’t know, FOSS packages are generally functional clones of some Commercial software equivalent except developed and supported by “meritocratic teams of individual developers, associations of companies, businesses that provide value-add support and services, non-profit foundations, and research and academic institutions. It is increasingly seen as the global standard and lowest-risk choice for operating systems to applications, helping individuals and organizations reduce costs, increase deployment, improve standards compliance, enhance security, and avoid vendor lock-in, which means long-term software investment protection”. In plain English, FOSS came about as a result of groups of people that got together to create their own versions of commercial software, often because they were fed up with paying outrageous licensing fees, some of which even require annual payments throughout the entire time that package is used. I’ve included this information because the output of these packages is just as good as their commercial counterparts — and although the learning curves tend to be about the same, using the FOSS versions of the commercial packages can save you literally thousands of dollars in software purchases. Regardless of what packages you choose, these are the tools you’ll need to put together a professional-quality press kit.


* NOTE — All price ranges shown are dependent on which software version you purchase and the source.


Content Processing — Microsoft Office (Commercial, from $200 to $800 USD*) or Microsoft Works (Commercial, between $20 and $130 USD*). OpenOffice (Free, download from http://www.openoffice.org ). It’s hard to find any mildly computer literate person who isn’t familiar with what Microsoft Office is, or at least used one of it’s software packages. OpenOffice is a clone of Microsoft Office that is distributed for free. For those writers that aren’t too computer savvy, one of these software packages is what you’ll need to write and edit all the content for your press kit. I had considered omitting this ‘Content Processing’ paragraph until I went to the P.O. Box earlier and pulled out a special pickup slip. After presenting it to the clerk she came back with a manuscript-sized box that contained a handwritten manuscript spread out over two 180-page spiral notebooks. Some writers either prefer to live like the Uni-Bomber or they truly have no idea what tools to use. If this applies to you, don’t bother reading any further — hire a professional.


The next three sections are included just for the sake of continuity, mostly because those who don’t know the basics of graphic design can take a look at what software is involved and make a judgement call as to whether or not to hire a professional. Those who have some experience with digital photo touch-up or graphic design will already know these programs well and will be fluent in what they need to use. For those who lack practical experience, it should be noted that each area also has dual learning curves involved. The first learning curve involves the discipline itself (e.g. – Image Processing requires a basic working knowledge of manipulating graphics). The second learning curve involves the software package you decide to use (e.g. – Although Photoshop and GIMP are functionally similar, gaining mastery over one package will only make it mildly easier to learn the other).

Image Processing — Adobe Photoshop (Commercial, from $160 to $700 USD*). GIMP (Free, download from http://www.gimp.org ). For handling raster images (e.g. – photos, scans, etc.). You’ll need this for resizing book covers, photos, and other related images so they’ll fit well within any of the press kit’s sheets.


Illustration — Adobe Illustrator (Commercial, from $100 to $700 USD*). Inkscape (Free, download from http://www.inkscape.org). For handling vector images (e.g. – scalable line art logos, etc.). If you’re not sure whether or not any of your artwork is vector, you might want to read my other article discussing the difference between raster and vector images.


Desktop Publishing — Adobe InDesign (Commercial, from $200 to $900 USD*). Corel Draw (Commercial, $xxx USD*). Scribus (Free, download from http://www.scribus.net). Somewhere in between those choices (functionally and price-wise) is Microsoft Publisher (which comes with most versions Microsoft Office).

• Commercial Printing: Using online printing services like www.uprinting.com, for an 8.5”x11” slick, 2-sided full color, expect to spend between $160 and $260 for 500 pieces (depending on shipping).
• Home Printing: For the most part this refers to any off-the-shelf printer that prints in color and is a Inkjet, Deskjet, LaserJet, or better. I personally prefer the All-in-One printers, also referred to as the Printer-Scanner-Copiers. Prices start at about $200 dollars USD retail. My general rule of thumb is that if you own a color printer made after 2003 you shouldn’t run into any problems with making quality prints for the press kit.
• Paper: HammerMill 32lb (between $12 and $20 USD for a 500-sheet ream). For photographs, consider HP Premium Plus Photo Paper, Matte, 8 1/2″ x 11″, 11.5 Mil, 90 Brightness, Pack Of 25 Sheets for about $18.00 dollars USD retail. You can probably find something comparable online for a better price. The reasons for this photo paper instead of others are:
• Matte finish reduces reflection, making your photos easy on the eyes — no light “bounce” to detract from the detail and color quality.
• 11.5-mil thickness rivals professional photo stock. Extra-thick paper is designed to accommodate greater ink coverage and stand up to the frequent handling. The weight of the paper will give your photos a professional feel, too.
• Special back coating keeps prints from sticking.
• The acid-free paper won’t yellow or disintegrate over time.
• Labeled Folders (optional): Avery duo-tank folders — roughly $8.75 for 25 folders retail but as low as $117 per 100 wholesale (not including shipping). Labels (or a generic brand knockoff) 5164 — 3.5″ x 4″ Self-Adhesive Laser Mailing Labels. One pack goes a long way with 600 labels (6 to a sheet). Label maker software ranges from free to about $30, depending.

There should be two versions of your press kit. Both should be PDFs:
;

1. A web/email-friendly version between 72dpi and 96dpi, less than 5 megs in total file size, RGB (full-color video) ,
2. and a print-only version — between 150dpi and 300dpi or higher, CMYK (4-color print).

Miscellaneous Tips:

You should create the printed version first because it will have the largest combined file sizes and it’s for printed mailing. Next you create the email-friendly electronic version for emailing to the media. Use the printed materials for the top book reviewers, newspapers, websites, or other promising media, while sendng electronic versions to those sources lower on the list. The other alternative is that you can email out the electronic version if you don’t have money to spend printing and mailing press kits. My advice is to do both as your budget allows.

When it comes to printing out hard copies of the entire kit, I’d only recommend doing so if you’ve got the design skills to make it look professional. Be forwarned that if you decide to use your home printer to print any sheets other than the Author Bio and Press Release, you’ll definitely want to make sure your layout, print quality and paper are top-notch. Doing it yourself might save you some money in the short term but if the average person can tell you printed it all yourself, the reviewers will too. Anything the looks amateur runs the risk of being disregarded as inferior — costing you credibility which will cost you reviews, media coverage and ultimately book sales.

On a last note, at the risk of sounding like a blatant commercial plug I have to say this: You can find many designers, book coaches and book-oriented publicity firms to create some (or all) of the components of your press kit; often saving you time and usually being worth the money. If you’ve got the skills (or the drive to teach yourself) and are willing to do the leg work of contacting media sources yourself, developing your own press kit is the way to go, too. Whichever route you take to make it happen, just remember that attempting a book publicity campaign without any kind of a press kit is almost a sure-fire way to condemn your book to failure.

Good luck on the quest… hope this helps.

– Max Nomad

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