In the 1600's most cultured socialites considered chapbooks vulgar. These 'flimsy' booklets were often sold in less than reputable establishments and contained a variety of less than quality poetry, stories, ballads and political dissent. Often filled with spelling mistakes, factual blunders and little in the way of quality assurance these chapbooks often connected with the uncultured alone.
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Writing. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Writing. Tampilkan semua postingan
Sabtu, 23 April 2011
Publishing Options For Freelance Book Authors
it is difficult to break into the publishing industry as a new author, and even more difficult to get an acceptance letter from an editor at a large publishing house. As an author you will work hard to finish your book, and work even harder to find the right book publisher. The good news is you can tap into several types of publishers to publish your book. Here is a look at some common types of book publishing.
GROUP PUBLISHING: Group publishing is the process by which a large company publishes your work in the name of a larger company. For example, large publishing companies often operate smaller publishing companies. The larger publishing company serves as an umbrella over the smaller group publishing companies. Sometimes these companies operate several smaller companies and book imprints that produce different genres of writing and books. Sometimes this is referred to trade publishing. For example, a large publishing group may produce best-selling adult novels, but may also operate under a smaller name to produce certain non-fiction books, cookbooks, children's books, or niche titles. Group publishing is a popular way to publish a book.
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING: Educational publishing shares some likeness to trade publishing. These companies deal specifically with educational material. They may deal with only college textbooks, or they might deal with textbooks and materials for grades K-12. Besides textbooks, these companies might also produce other forms of educational material, which include posters, workbooks, CD-ROMS, software, testing material and maps. There are several big name educational publishing companies.
UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING: Better known as the "University Press," this type of publishing is different from group publishing and it is not the same as scholarly publishing. These types of companies are usually non-profit. Universities, colleges and sometimes museums or other organizations operate these publishing imprints. These publishers usually publish books by scholars and other specialists. Besides distributing their books to bookstores, they also make their book titles available within the university system. Sometimes larger trade publishers publish these types of books
INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING: Independent publishers are often the best way to publish your book with established distribution channels. Independent publishers are generally small, privately-owned companies. Many times, these companies only publish a handful of books each year and they specialize in certain subjects. They have the freedom to publish just about anything they wish.
SOFTWARE and other MEDIA: You might consider software and other types of media as a publishing option. Think about the many e-books, CD-ROMs and digital downloads, many published by large and small publishing companies. These types of publishing companies are often associated with larger trade publishers. In fact, many large publishing companies have their own in-house media publisher to spawn the traditional paperback book into other types of media. Digital and alternate media is a huge, profitable business, and these publishers are just as important and lucrative as the large trade publishers.
As you can see, you can tap into various publishers who might consider publishing your book. If you are unlucky with a large trade publisher or group publisher, then don't give up. Keep looking at the different types of publishing companies until you find one that wants to work with you and your book.
GROUP PUBLISHING: Group publishing is the process by which a large company publishes your work in the name of a larger company. For example, large publishing companies often operate smaller publishing companies. The larger publishing company serves as an umbrella over the smaller group publishing companies. Sometimes these companies operate several smaller companies and book imprints that produce different genres of writing and books. Sometimes this is referred to trade publishing. For example, a large publishing group may produce best-selling adult novels, but may also operate under a smaller name to produce certain non-fiction books, cookbooks, children's books, or niche titles. Group publishing is a popular way to publish a book.
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING: Educational publishing shares some likeness to trade publishing. These companies deal specifically with educational material. They may deal with only college textbooks, or they might deal with textbooks and materials for grades K-12. Besides textbooks, these companies might also produce other forms of educational material, which include posters, workbooks, CD-ROMS, software, testing material and maps. There are several big name educational publishing companies.
UNIVERSITY PUBLISHING: Better known as the "University Press," this type of publishing is different from group publishing and it is not the same as scholarly publishing. These types of companies are usually non-profit. Universities, colleges and sometimes museums or other organizations operate these publishing imprints. These publishers usually publish books by scholars and other specialists. Besides distributing their books to bookstores, they also make their book titles available within the university system. Sometimes larger trade publishers publish these types of books
INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING: Independent publishers are often the best way to publish your book with established distribution channels. Independent publishers are generally small, privately-owned companies. Many times, these companies only publish a handful of books each year and they specialize in certain subjects. They have the freedom to publish just about anything they wish.
SOFTWARE and other MEDIA: You might consider software and other types of media as a publishing option. Think about the many e-books, CD-ROMs and digital downloads, many published by large and small publishing companies. These types of publishing companies are often associated with larger trade publishers. In fact, many large publishing companies have their own in-house media publisher to spawn the traditional paperback book into other types of media. Digital and alternate media is a huge, profitable business, and these publishers are just as important and lucrative as the large trade publishers.
As you can see, you can tap into various publishers who might consider publishing your book. If you are unlucky with a large trade publisher or group publisher, then don't give up. Keep looking at the different types of publishing companies until you find one that wants to work with you and your book.
Sabtu, 16 April 2011
Benefits Of Creating User Documents In-House
OVERVIEW
For small companies, creating their product's User Documentation in-house, provides benefits to the company, to (idle) staff, and to the product. This article describes the benefits and some downsides of producing User Documents in-house.
THREE OPTIONS
If you have no in-house writing staff you have three options:
1. No User Document for the product. This is NOT a valid option. Every product needs User Documentation. It completes your product package, and enhances the User's experience with your product. Here are two examples of non-existent User Documentation:
* Tomatoes. Most people don't know that before use, tomatoes should not be refrigerated. Refrigerating tomatoes before use will reduce their flavor and nutrition value.
* A Manual Can Opener. This can opener clamps on the can, thus the user does not have to squeeze the handles while operating the can opener. It came with no User Documentation, as "everyone could probably figure out how to use it." This is wrong. After a few uses, the blades become slightly dulled, and the handles are very difficult to clamp and lock.
The simple tip of turning the knob while squeezing the handles makes the can opener easy to use. That tip could form the basis of a User Manual for the product. The manual should include instructions for care of the can opener. The absurd situation is that this clamp feature was the unique aspect of the product; but the feature becomes unusable because of no User Document.
How have you felt about products that came without User Documentation? Were you confused about the product and getting the most from it? User Documentation adds to the value of the product. Let's look at how we can get it created.
2. Use an outside writing service or consultant. Technical writers may be an excellent choice to create your User Documentation. However, there may be downsides to using them.
* When documentation changes have to be made, the company has to re-hire the writer. If the writer were unavailable, then you have to wait or search for a new writer. When the new writer gets hired, a new orientation to the company and the project would have to start. Delays, delays, delays.
* An even more horrible thought is that the outside writer used some fancy piece of software to create the User Document, and you do not own that software. Thus you could not make any changes until you bought and learned that software, or hired an outside writer who uses the same software. (Most technical writers are enamored with a particular piece of esoteric writing software.)
Using the outside writer will force you to batch your documentation changes, making the literature out of date. (How many times have you seen product documentation that does not match the product? This happens because the company was waiting for the next major upgrade to update the User Documentation.)
3. Using idle employees in your company to create the User Documentation. The remainder of this article will focus on this option.
STAFFING BENEFITS
In most organizations, there is some staff down-time. By assigning these staff to create User Documents you benefit from effective use of this down-time, and the employees benefit from experience in a new field.
These staffing benefits include:
* Use staff who may be idle between projects
* Your staff know the company's culture and their fellow staff
* Your staff use existing company-wide writing tools (your word processor)
* No time needed to get oriented with the physical aspects of the job
* You have created a new resource within company
BENEFITS TO YOUR USER DOCUMENTS
If you have in-house writers (even if they are not formally trained as "technical writers") you can just say "Sue, could you or Tom update the document where the sign-in window is presented." Much faster and more flexible then having to go to an outside source. Sue and Tom have ownership of the document, and would work to improve it. They would use software resources available in your organization.
The benefits of in-house writers to your User Documents include:
* You can make corrections as you find the errors.
* You are able to update your User Document when you update your product.
* Better control of timing and resources
* No fear in dealing with the User Document in electronic form. From your word processor or add-ins, you can publish your User Document as a portable data format (.pdf) file, or as HTML for display on the Internet.
DOWNSIDES OF IN-HOUSE WRITING
The primary downsides of in-house User Document creation are the attitude and emotions of your newly-appointed writer. These include:
* Fear ("I don't know how to write")
* Anger ("Why me? This is unfair")
* Uncertainty ("I don't know what to write")
* Isolation ("I've been cast into this writing thing")
You can reduce these negative emotions if you encourage and support your New Writer.
SUPPORT YOUR NEW WRITERS
It is unfair to assign a non-writer to create a User Document without supporting him/her. You have to support your writer with:
* Training;
* Access to the development and marketing teams for product information;
* Use of the development team to evaluate their writing (small chunks);
* Access to the product, industry literature, and marketing materials;
* Style manual;
* Editor -- your writing expert;
* Time to do a good job.
Other articles in this series (see the links in the "Resources" or "About the Author" section of this article) present more information about supporting your New Writer.
For small companies, creating their product's User Documentation in-house, provides benefits to the company, to (idle) staff, and to the product. This article describes the benefits and some downsides of producing User Documents in-house.
THREE OPTIONS
If you have no in-house writing staff you have three options:
1. No User Document for the product. This is NOT a valid option. Every product needs User Documentation. It completes your product package, and enhances the User's experience with your product. Here are two examples of non-existent User Documentation:
* Tomatoes. Most people don't know that before use, tomatoes should not be refrigerated. Refrigerating tomatoes before use will reduce their flavor and nutrition value.
* A Manual Can Opener. This can opener clamps on the can, thus the user does not have to squeeze the handles while operating the can opener. It came with no User Documentation, as "everyone could probably figure out how to use it." This is wrong. After a few uses, the blades become slightly dulled, and the handles are very difficult to clamp and lock.
The simple tip of turning the knob while squeezing the handles makes the can opener easy to use. That tip could form the basis of a User Manual for the product. The manual should include instructions for care of the can opener. The absurd situation is that this clamp feature was the unique aspect of the product; but the feature becomes unusable because of no User Document.
How have you felt about products that came without User Documentation? Were you confused about the product and getting the most from it? User Documentation adds to the value of the product. Let's look at how we can get it created.
2. Use an outside writing service or consultant. Technical writers may be an excellent choice to create your User Documentation. However, there may be downsides to using them.
* When documentation changes have to be made, the company has to re-hire the writer. If the writer were unavailable, then you have to wait or search for a new writer. When the new writer gets hired, a new orientation to the company and the project would have to start. Delays, delays, delays.
* An even more horrible thought is that the outside writer used some fancy piece of software to create the User Document, and you do not own that software. Thus you could not make any changes until you bought and learned that software, or hired an outside writer who uses the same software. (Most technical writers are enamored with a particular piece of esoteric writing software.)
Using the outside writer will force you to batch your documentation changes, making the literature out of date. (How many times have you seen product documentation that does not match the product? This happens because the company was waiting for the next major upgrade to update the User Documentation.)
3. Using idle employees in your company to create the User Documentation. The remainder of this article will focus on this option.
STAFFING BENEFITS
In most organizations, there is some staff down-time. By assigning these staff to create User Documents you benefit from effective use of this down-time, and the employees benefit from experience in a new field.
These staffing benefits include:
* Use staff who may be idle between projects
* Your staff know the company's culture and their fellow staff
* Your staff use existing company-wide writing tools (your word processor)
* No time needed to get oriented with the physical aspects of the job
* You have created a new resource within company
BENEFITS TO YOUR USER DOCUMENTS
If you have in-house writers (even if they are not formally trained as "technical writers") you can just say "Sue, could you or Tom update the document where the sign-in window is presented." Much faster and more flexible then having to go to an outside source. Sue and Tom have ownership of the document, and would work to improve it. They would use software resources available in your organization.
The benefits of in-house writers to your User Documents include:
* You can make corrections as you find the errors.
* You are able to update your User Document when you update your product.
* Better control of timing and resources
* No fear in dealing with the User Document in electronic form. From your word processor or add-ins, you can publish your User Document as a portable data format (.pdf) file, or as HTML for display on the Internet.
DOWNSIDES OF IN-HOUSE WRITING
The primary downsides of in-house User Document creation are the attitude and emotions of your newly-appointed writer. These include:
* Fear ("I don't know how to write")
* Anger ("Why me? This is unfair")
* Uncertainty ("I don't know what to write")
* Isolation ("I've been cast into this writing thing")
You can reduce these negative emotions if you encourage and support your New Writer.
SUPPORT YOUR NEW WRITERS
It is unfair to assign a non-writer to create a User Document without supporting him/her. You have to support your writer with:
* Training;
* Access to the development and marketing teams for product information;
* Use of the development team to evaluate their writing (small chunks);
* Access to the product, industry literature, and marketing materials;
* Style manual;
* Editor -- your writing expert;
* Time to do a good job.
Other articles in this series (see the links in the "Resources" or "About the Author" section of this article) present more information about supporting your New Writer.
Kamis, 14 April 2011
Realities Of Publishing Your Own Book
Publishing a book is one of the best ways to position yourself as an expert in your field. Not only that but the book demonstrates your expertise in its best and most organized format. And perhaps the biggest advantage of all is that your book allows people to be introduced to your expertise without you doing a thing. Yes, you have to write it and get it published. And you also have to market it. But after that, you can sit back and let people read it on their own time.
So let's talk about some of the realities behind publishing your own book. The biggest misconception people have about the process is that the publishing company does the marketing. Untrue. Regardless of the publishing company you use, the responsibility falls squarely on the author. And that's a rude awakening for most aspiring authors.
Marketing is no easy task and the biggest priority of publishers considering your book proposal is NOT the quality of your writing or the brilliance of your idea but your ability to market you own book. Yes, it's true. The biggest thing publishers look for when they evaluate book proposals is your audience and your following. They call it your platform and it refers to the activities you do everyday that put you in front of potential buyers.
The best thing you can do to increase the odds of your book proposal getting accepted by a publisher is to build your platform. Whether that includes workshops and seminars, press releases and media publicity, interviews and special events, blogging and podcasting or internet marketing, publishers need to know you have a strategy to promote your book and the tools necessary to pull it off. Indeed, they're looking for a certain amount of star power.
If you don't have a platform when you submit your book proposal, it won't even get a second glance. That's why it's absolutely imperative to get the process started early. Offer workshops and seminars. Develop a website and build awareness and traffic. Use press releases to announce events or special milestones. Write articles, both online and off. Look for speaking engagements to build credibility and gain exposure. These are the things publishers will favor when evaluating your proposal.
Another misconception about getting a book published is that you'll make money in the process. Unfortunately, this is rarely true on the first book. As an unproven author, you won't be able to negotiate a big percentage in the book deal and the marketing campaign will devour most of the profits. The primary objective behind your first book should be to build credibility, gain exposure and validate your abilities as an author, including marketing. If you succeed, you'll get a much better deal on your second book and that's where you can start making money.
Publishing a book can be one of the best steps a person can take when developing a business. It sets you apart from the vast majority of others in your field and people will forever more treat you differently. But you also have to be realistic with the process and that's what this article is all about. There is lots of information that can support the development of a platform and the marketing requirements on the Tactical Execution website and I encourage you to take advantage of those resources.
So let's talk about some of the realities behind publishing your own book. The biggest misconception people have about the process is that the publishing company does the marketing. Untrue. Regardless of the publishing company you use, the responsibility falls squarely on the author. And that's a rude awakening for most aspiring authors.
Marketing is no easy task and the biggest priority of publishers considering your book proposal is NOT the quality of your writing or the brilliance of your idea but your ability to market you own book. Yes, it's true. The biggest thing publishers look for when they evaluate book proposals is your audience and your following. They call it your platform and it refers to the activities you do everyday that put you in front of potential buyers.
The best thing you can do to increase the odds of your book proposal getting accepted by a publisher is to build your platform. Whether that includes workshops and seminars, press releases and media publicity, interviews and special events, blogging and podcasting or internet marketing, publishers need to know you have a strategy to promote your book and the tools necessary to pull it off. Indeed, they're looking for a certain amount of star power.
If you don't have a platform when you submit your book proposal, it won't even get a second glance. That's why it's absolutely imperative to get the process started early. Offer workshops and seminars. Develop a website and build awareness and traffic. Use press releases to announce events or special milestones. Write articles, both online and off. Look for speaking engagements to build credibility and gain exposure. These are the things publishers will favor when evaluating your proposal.
Another misconception about getting a book published is that you'll make money in the process. Unfortunately, this is rarely true on the first book. As an unproven author, you won't be able to negotiate a big percentage in the book deal and the marketing campaign will devour most of the profits. The primary objective behind your first book should be to build credibility, gain exposure and validate your abilities as an author, including marketing. If you succeed, you'll get a much better deal on your second book and that's where you can start making money.
Publishing a book can be one of the best steps a person can take when developing a business. It sets you apart from the vast majority of others in your field and people will forever more treat you differently. But you also have to be realistic with the process and that's what this article is all about. There is lots of information that can support the development of a platform and the marketing requirements on the Tactical Execution website and I encourage you to take advantage of those resources.
