The Business Side of Book Writing

• A writer must first understand his/her target audience. (Side note: EVERYONE is not your target audience)
• What is the age, description, and language of your target audience? Your audience must relate to the tone, words and style  

• Why do want to write a book
• What do you hope to accomplish
• What is the take home for your readers
• A story that provokes a reaction, produces an emotion, enhances knowledge, or educates the reader strikes writing gold and achieves the ultimate in writing success

• Non-Fiction books should flow, be easy to read, and concise.
• Non-Fiction books average 50,000 words
• Fiction books must be engaging, capturing the readers interest while driving anticipation to read more.
• Fiction books average 100,000 words 
• Avoid running down a proverbial rabbit hole that can distract the reader and lead to disinterest and the dreaded "I'll read it later" decision

• An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has 13 numbers and is used to identify a book for retailers, libraries and so-forth
• Some self-publishing houses include an ISBN in the cost; some don't
• e-Books require a separate ISBN
• Always copyright your work - To obtain a legal copyright visit U.S. Copyright Office | U.S. Copyright Office 

• First person - Main character tells the story -  (I can, I did, I ran) 
• Second person - The story is told using pronouns - (You can write this paper.  Your book is great!)
• Third person - The story is told referring to people, the writer is not in the story - (He is a good writer. She is a good author)
• Narrative - Although narrative writing does not fall into the Point of View definition, it is a writing style - (The reader is aware of the person telling the story)

Traditional Publishing

• Selective
• Extremely competitive
• Usually involves hiring an agent
• Typically prefers name recognition
• Difficult to break-in

Self Publishing

• Self-Publishing can be expensive
• Review publishing houses and choose one that fits your needs and budget
• Self-publishing houses rarely promote or market a book, that falls on you​
• Self-publishing houses typically charge by page and an average page is around 250 words with a 12 -point font. Most self-published books are P.O.D. (print on demand), meaning you order when you need them. Consider of entire cost of printing, shipping and so-forth, when pricing your book
• Read contracts carefully - Are you agreeing to First Rights (leaves you the right to publish elsewhere afterward) or All Rights (self-explanatory) 

Marketing

• Bookstores
• Book signings
• Online
• Retail outlets
• Personal website
• Speaking engagements
• Social media

• Self-Publishing can be expensive
• Anyone can potentially publish a book; therefore, it is important to review publishing houses and choose one that fits your needs and budget
• Self-publishing houses rarely promote or market a book​
• Self-publishing houses typically charge by page and an average page is around 250 words with a 12-point font. Most self-published books are P.O.D. (print on demand), meaning you order when you need them. Consider of entire cost of printing, shipping and so-forth, when pricing your book
• Read contracts carefully