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May 2, 2018 - Understanding Publishing from blog.reedsy.com

When it comes to discussions around books and publishing, we all know the most exciting topic at the table: How to get an ISBN.

We know not everyone is thrilled by the idea of obtaining a serial number, but ISBNs are a critical part of self-publishing. Luckily, we’re here to answer all of your questions.

Contents

• What is an ISBN?
• How to get an ISBN?
• Do all self-publishing authors need an ISBN?
• How much do ISBNs cost?

An International Standard Book Number, or ISBN is a 13-digit code used as an unique identifier for publications.They allow publishers, bookstores, libraries, or readers to easily find your book.

All standard ISBNs comprise of five parts that tell us the following:

1. The number 978 or 979 indicates that the digits are a book code
2. The country or language group of the publication
3. The publisher
4. The title of the publication
5. The check digit — which, in a non-technical nutshell, indicates that the ISBN has been verified

ISBNs are fixed and non-transferable, which basically means that if you publish both a paperback and ebook version of the same book, you will need separate numbers for each format. If you then decide to publish the ebook in a different language, you’ll need a new ID for that version as well — so on and so forth.*

*Almost all publishers accept ePubs. Some of them do convert the ePub into an alternative format after the fact (for instance, Amazon will convert it to a MOBI file). But it’s the source format that counts — so if you upload an ePub to various retailers who then convert it to different formats, you can retain the same numbers for each digital version.

Is it the same as a barcode?
While you might find the ISBN and barcode in the same spot on the back of a book cover, they fulfill different purposes.

Just to throw more fun acronyms into the mix, a standard barcode is known as a European Article Number (EAN). A barcode is also a unique series of digits that uniquely identifies a book — however, it provides information such as the price of a publication and the currency in which it’s being sold. Unlike ISBNs, a barcode can change based on the cost of the book.

As they are used by retailers for inventory reasons, only authors who are planning to print and distribute hard copies of their titles need to obtain a barcode.

How to get an ISBN

In many places, such as Canada, the government provides ISBNs for free. To find out if this is the case in your country (and for instructions on requesting a number), look up your local agency here.

In the US, ISBNs are administered through Bowker and can be bought via myidentifiers.com. In the United Kingdom, authors can buy a number through Nielsen.

Regardless of where you live, once you have received your ISBN, you should register it at Bowkerlink. This will automatically add your title to Bowker’s Books In Print: a bibliographic database that libraries around the world consult to source titles. It currently hosts about 7.5 million US book, audiobook, and movie titles, as well as 12 million international titles.

Additional options for how to get an ISBN

Even in the US and UK, there are other means — free ones, at that — for securing a book number. Many on-demand publishing companies will assign indie authors an ID at a discounted rate or for free, such as:

• CreateSpace (offers both free and paid options)
• IngramSpark (discount)
• BookBaby (discount)
• Smashwords (free)
• Draft2Digital (free)
• eBookPartnership (free)

But — you probably knew there was a “but” coming — here’s the catch: when you register for a free or discounted ISBN through an aggregator such as the ones listed above, you are limited to the retail channels of that publisher alone. This is due to regulations enforced by Bowker.

Not all authors will take issue with this. For instance, you might be selling your ebook through KDP, and then decide to also sell through Draft2Digital. The former will provide you with a free ASIN and the latter with a free ISBN. Piece of cake.

But then let’s say that sales aren’t what you want them to be and you decide you’d like to access the distribution channels of BookBaby or Smashwords. You’ll need to register for separate numbers from each of those publishers as well.

This can snowball into you having several ISBNs and several different publishers all listed for the same book. This looks unprofessional and can harm your chances to get stocked in libraries and brick-and-mortar bookstores.

This brings us to our next point: whether or not you need an ISBN depends on what kind of book you intend to publish. And whether or not you should buy one depends on your publishing goals. Let’s elaborate...

Do all self-publishing authors need an ISBN?

No. Authors must obtain an ISBN to...

• Publish their book as a paperback, hardcover, or an audiobook.
• Sell their book to brick-and-mortar stores or libraries.

Authors are not required to obtain an ISBN if they only…

• Sell their book in an ebook format.
• Sell via online retailers such as Amazon.

Those are the basics, but there’s much more for authors to consider than just whether or not they technically need an ISBN.

The case against getting an ISBN

Authors who only plan to publish and sell an e-book don’t need an ISBN, and there isn’t a shortage of reasons for them to avoid buying one. Here are a few. They aren’t cheap (more on that later). Indie authors don’t typically have overflowing publishing budgets. There is no proof that it increases or sales. If you’re using an online retailer, your goal is to be as visible as possible to potential readers, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a reader who searches using ISBNs. It doesn’t affect your chances of hitting a bestsellers list. If landing a spot on one of those is part of the dream, a glorified serial number won’t help you get there. Regardless of what identifier is attached to your book, sales are reported based on the title and the author’s name. So even if your book has 25 different IDs, it won’t affect the way your overall sales are collected. The largest ebook retailers don’t require you to have one. The most popular online book retailers are Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo — all of which assign you their own identifier when you upload your book to their store. Some vendors impose restrictions when you “bring your own ISBN.” For example, CreateSpace prohibits books that already have an ISBN from accessing some of their expanded distribution channels, such as their Libraries and Academic Institutions channel.  The current system is often quoted as being outdated. An ISBN is a great tool for tracking the sales of a book. But the rise of self-publishing and (as we mentioned above) ebook retailers' own inventory systems have made ISBNs a fairly inaccurate data collector.

The case for getting an ISBN

But before you make up your mind, let’s quickly cover why there might be value in the 13-digit ID.

Your long-term publishing goals should contribute to your decision to/not to buy an ISBN. If your plan is to publish multiple novels and to brand yourself as a legitimate publisher, buying your own identifiers is a good idea for administrative and professional purposes — when you own your own ISBN, you get to choose what name appears as the publisher.

It will also allow you to keep your sales options open. While indie authors should absolutely offer their publications as ebooks, and listing your book on the top 4 retailers is a no-brainer, there are many other avenues to consider — such as brick-and-mortar bookstores, and libraries. Without an ISBN, you rope yourself off from those avenues and their valuable potential for sales.

A quick word about libraries: They may not be the first thing that jumps to an indie author’s mind when they think of viable places for their book, but in the United States, libraries spend over $3 billion annually on reading materials. So you shouldn’t discount them. Their biggest supplier is OverDrive, who circulated more than 105 million e-books to libraries in 2015. They also supply to retailers. But to get in on this action, your book requires an ISBN.  Lastly, you’ve probably never thought of buying a book and then changed your mind because you noticed it didn’t have an ISBN. Readers don’t care about them. However, to just get your book in front of readers means competing with traditional publishers — and in this competitive arena, we generally adhere to the notion that every bit helps. If you want your book to look as professional as possible, you might want to consider getting an ISBN so you have the power to determine who is listed as the publisher of record.

Do your ISBN research ahead of time: Something important to note is that while you absolutely can obtain an ISBN for a book after it’s been published, updating an existing title with an ISBN will impact your sales ranking and the reviews you’ve already received on your vendor book page. Major retailers view an ISBN as a book — so if you replace the identifier they provided with one purchased from Bowker, it’s basically like you are uploading an entirely new book — one with zero sales or reviews.

Another large point of consideration for indie authors is the cost. And on that note…

How much does an ISBN cost?

Of course, this depends on where you live.

In the US, here are the costs of purchasing ISBNs from Bowker.  So, it’s not an addition to the cost of self-publishing to laugh at. In both cases, the most economical option is to purchase ISBNs in bulk if you are planning to publish more than one format of one book.

For more information regarding the topics covered, here are some links to check out:

• International ISBN Agency
• Frequently Asked Questions Re: ISBNs (answered by Bowker)
• Bowker’s ISBN Set-Up Guide
• Nielsen ISBN Information

There’s no wrong or right answer provided that you think ahead. If you have a lightbulb moment one day and decide to write and publish a book as a passion project, you can probably eschew the price tag of an ISBN and rest easy. If you’re looking to start your own publishing business, then carefully weigh your options. Investing in an ISBN might be the smart bet or an unnecessary one, depending on your goals.

Posted on July 2, 2017 by Jane Friedman

This is an introductory guide to how to self-publish (both print and ebook), and how to choose the right services or approach based on your needs and budget.

1. A Quick History of Self-Publishing
2. The Most Common Ways to Self-Publish Today
3. Self-Publishing: The DIY Approach I Recommend
4. How Ebook Self-Publishing Services Work
5. Creating Ebook Files
6. How to Self-Publish a Print Book
7. Investing in a Print Run: Yes or No?
8. Print-on-Demand Recommendations
9. Maximizing Your Book Sales
10. More Resources

If you don’t want to read the entire post, I talk you through the highlights in this video.

1. A Quick History of Self-Publishing

For most of publishing’s history, if an author wanted to self-publish, they had to invest thousands of dollars with a so-called “vanity” press, or otherwise learn how to become an independent, small publisher.

That all changed in the late 1990s, with the advent of print-on-demand (POD) technology, which allows books to be printed one at a time. As a result, many POD publishing services arose that provided authors with low-cost self-publishing packages. They could be low cost because—without print runs, inventory, and warehousing—the only expense left was in creating and designing the product itself: the book. Outfits like iUniverse, Xlibris, and AuthorHouse (which have merged and been consolidated under AuthorSolutions) offered a range of packages to help authors get their books in print, though most books never sat on a bookstore shelf and sold a few dozen copies at best.

What’s Changed Since 2007

Just as traditional publishing has transformed due to the rise of ebooks, today’s self-publishing market has transformed as well. Most self-published authors earn the bulk of their money from ebook sales. Furthermore, 85% or more of all US ebook sales happen through a single online retailer, Amazon. Anyone can make their ebook and print book available for sale in the most important market—Amazon—without paying a cent upfront.

That means the full-service POD publishers that used to make a killing are now largely irrelevant to most self-publishing success, even though you’ll find them advertising against Google search results for “self-publishing.” Don’t be immediately lured in; first understand your options, explained below.

2. The Most Common Ways to Self-Publish Today

There are several ways to self-publish in today’s market.

• Self-publish completely on your own, hiring only the freelance assistance you need, and work directly with retailers and distributors to sell your book.
• Self-publish by hiring a service company to basically act as your publisher.
• Work with a “hybrid” publisher.

This post will expand on how to self-publish completely on your own. Before I explore that process in detail, here’s an explanation of the other choices you have.

Self-publish by hiring a service company

This is what I call the “write a check and make the headache go away” method of self-publishing. If you have more money than time, and have no interest in being a full-time career author, this may best serve your needs.

Service packages and publishing arrangements tremendously vary, but the best services charge an upfront fee, take absolutely no rights to your work, and pass on 100% net sales to the author. They make money on charging authors for the services provided (editorial, design, marketing, and so on), not on copies sold. Such books will almost never be stocked in physical retail bookstores, although in some rare cases, it may happen. Most assisted publishing services have different packages or tiers of service, while others offer customized quotes based on the particular needs of your project.

The benefit is that you get a published book without having to figure out the details of the publishing industry or finding freelance professionals you can trust. The best and most expensive services (which can easily exceed $20,000) offer a quality experience that is comparable to working with a traditional publisher. You should avoid companies that take advantage of author inexperience and use high-pressure sales tactics, such as AuthorSolutions imprints (AuthorHouse, iUniverse, WestBow, Archway).

Examples of good assisted services include Matador, Mill City Press, DogEar, Radius Book Group, Book in a Box, and Girl Friday Productions. To check the reputation of a service, visit Mick Rooney’s Independent Publishing Magazine.

Publish through a “hybrid” company

Some self-publishing (or assisted publishing) services have started calling themselves “hybrid publishers” because it sounds more fashionable and savvy, but such companies may be nothing more than a fancy self-publishing service. Fees dramatically vary and quality dramatically varies. You have to do your research carefully. I discuss hybrid publishing in more detail here. As with self-publishing service companies, you will fund book publication in exchange for expertise and assistance of the publisher; cost is often in the thousands of dollars. You may receive better royalties than a traditional publishing contract, but you’ll earn less than if self-publishing on your own. Each hybrid publisher has its own distinctive costs and business model; always secure a clear contract with all fees explained.

Agents who offer self-publishing services

Increasingly, agents are starting to help existing clients as well as new ones digitally publish their work. Help might consist of fee-based services, royalty-based services, and hybrid models.

Such practices are controversial because agents’ traditional role is to serve as an advocate for their clients’ interests and negotiate the best possible deals. When agents start publishing their clients’ work and taking their 15% cut of sales, a conflict of interest develops.

In their defense, agents are changing their roles in response to industry change, as well as client demand. Regardless of how you proceed, look for flexibility in any agreements you sign. Given the pace of change in the market, it’s not a good idea to enter into an exclusive, long-term contract that locks you into a low royalty rate or into a distribution deal that may fall behind in best practices.

3. Self-Publishing: The DIY Approach I Recommend

Today, anyone can get access to the same level of online retail distribution as a traditional publisher, for both print and ebook editions, through services such as Amazon KDP, Draft2Digital, CreateSpace, and IngramSpark. I will explain how and when to use these services throughout this post.

You don’t “pay” these services until your books start to sell. Every time a copy of your book is sold, the retailer takes a cut, and if you use a distributor, they’ll take a cut, too.

You, the author, manage the publishing process and hire the right people or services to edit, design, publish, and distribute your book. Every step of the way, you decide which distributors or retailers you prefer to deal with. You retain complete and total control of all artistic and business decisions; you keep all profits and rights.

Self-publishing on your own means making decisions about your book’s editorial, design, and production quality. I offer a checklist for the book publication process here.

What follows is an explanation of how to self-publish once you have a final, polished manuscript and/or printer-ready files. 

Some of the services I reference, particularly CreateSpace, offer fee-based services related to editing, design, and marketing. These package services may work OK for your needs, but I think it’s better to hire your own freelancers and always know who you’re working with. Also, you can take a look at Joel Friedlander’s book template system, which offers a way for total beginners to prepare ebook and print book files that are ready to be distributed and sold.

Setting Up a Formal Publishing Company

You don’t have to set up a formal business (e.g., in the United States, you can use your Social Security number for tax purposes), but serious self-publishers will typically set up an LLC at minimum.

For the basic information on how to establish your own imprint or publishing company, read Joel Friedlander’s post, How to Create, Register, and List Your New Publishing Company.

4. How Ebook Self-Publishing Services Work

The first and most important thing to understand about ebook retailers and distributors is that they are not publishers. That means they take no responsibility for the quality of your work, but neither do they take any rights to your work. Here are the characteristics of major services:

• Free to play. You rarely pay an upfront fee. When you do pay upfront, usually in the case of a distributor (such as BookBaby), you earn 100% net. If you don’t pay an upfront fee, then expect a percentage of your sales to be kept.
• At-will and nonexclusive. You can upload your work at any time and make it available for sale; you can also take it down at any time. You can upload new versions; change the price, cover and description; and you can sell your work through multiple services or through your own site.
• Little technical expertise required. Major services offer automated tools for converting your files, uploading files, and listing your work for sale, as well as free guides and tutorials to help ensure your files are formatted appropriately.

Again, it’s important to emphasize: By using these services, you do not forfeit any of your rights to the work. If a traditional publisher or agent were to approach you after your ebook has gone on sale, you are free to sell rights without any obligation to the services you’ve used.

Most e-publishing services fall into one of these categories:

• Ebook retailers. Nearly all ebook retailers offer to distribute and sell self-published ebooks through their storefront or device, then take a cut of sales. The biggest and most important of these is Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. Ebook retailers do not offer any assistance in preparing your ebook files, although they may accept a wide range of file types for upload.
• Ebook distributors. These services primarily act as middlemen and push your work out to multiple retailers and distributors. This helps reduce the amount of work an author must do; instead of dealing with many different single channel services, you deal with only one service. The most popular ebook distributors in the United States are Draft2Digital and Smashwords.
• Book builders and distributors. These are tools that allow you to create and distribute your work all from one interface. These are most common for children’s books and highly illustrated books, such as Kindle Kids’ Book Creator. 

One popular approach for independent authors is to sell and distribute directly through Amazon KDP, then use a distributor like Draft2Digital to reach everyone else. Because none of these services demand exclusivity, that’s possible.

A note about ISBNs: While an ISBN is not required for basic ebook distribution through most retailers, some distributors and services require one. Therefore, to maximize distribution, you’ll need an ISBN for your ebook. Some self-publishing services will provide you with an ISBN, or you can obtain your own ISBN. (If you’re US-based, you can buy through MyIdentifiers.com.)

What ebook retailers pay

5. Creating Ebook Files

Nearly every service asks you to upload a final ebook file that is appropriately formatted. Services vary widely in the types of files they accept. Because standards are still developing in the ebook world, you may find yourself converting and formatting your book multiple times to satisfy the requirements of different services.

Here are the most commonly used formats for ebooks:

• EPUB. This is considered a global standard format for ebooks and works seamlessly on most devices. While you cannot export an EPUB file from a Word document, you can save your Word document as a text (.txt) file, then convert and format it using special software.
• MOBI. This is the format that’s ideal for Amazon Kindle, although you can also upload an EPUB file.
• PDF. PDFs can be difficult to convert to standard ebook formats. It’s not a recommended starting point for ebook conversion.

Most major ebook retailers and distributors accept a Word document and automatically convert it to the appropriate format, but you still must go through an “unformatting” process for best results. All major services offer step-by-step guidelines for formatting your Word documents before you upload them for conversion.

Important to note: There is a difference between formatting and converting your book files. Conversion refers to an automated process of converting files from one format into another, without editing or styling. It’s often easy to convert files, but the resulting file may look unprofessional—or even appear unreadable—if not formatted appropriately.

Useful tools for formatting and converting ebooks include:

• Calibre: Free software that converts and helps you format ebook files from more than a dozen different file types.
• Vellum: popular ebook formatting software for Mac users
• I’ve listed more tools here.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed at the idea of converting and formatting your own ebook files, then you may want to use a distributor or service that’s customer-service oriented in this regard, such as Draft2Digital. If your ebook has special layout requirements, heavy illustration, or multimedia components, you should probably hire an independent company to help you (eBookPartnership is one option).

But if your book is mostly straight text—such as novels and narrative works—then you might be able to handle the conversion and formatting process without much difficulty if you’re starting with a Word document or text file.

Designing an Ebook Cover

There are a number of special considerations for ebook cover design. People may see your cover in black and white, grayscale, color, high-resolution, low-resolution, thumbnail size, or full size. It needs to be readable at all sizes and look good on low-quality or mobile devices. For these reasons (and many more), it’s best to hire a professional to create an ebook cover for you. One designer I frequently recommend is Damon Za.

When Ebooks Can Be Problematic

Even though ebooks are the best-selling format for self-publishing authors (especially fiction), ask these questions before you begin:

• Is your book highly illustrated? Does it require color? If so, you may find there are significant challenges to creating and distributing your ebook across multiple platforms.
• Is your book for children? Ebook adoption in the children’s market is in the single digits, unlike the adult market. Ebook-only work will struggle to gain traction.

6. How to Self-Publish a Print Book

There are two primary ways to publish and make a print edition available for sale:

• Print on demand (POD)
• Traditional offset printing 

Print-on-demand technology allows for books to be printed one at a time. This is by far the most popular way to produce print copies of your book because it reduces financial risk.

Pros of print-on-demand

• Little or no upfront cost, aside from producing printer-ready files
• Your book can be available for sale as a print edition in all the usual online retail outlets (Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, etc), as well as distributed through Ingram, the largest U.S. book wholesaler.
• Most people cannot tell the difference between a POD book and an offset printed book—at least for black-and-white books.

Cons of print-on-demand

• The unit cost is much higher, which may lead to a higher retail price.
• You may have very few print copies on hand—or it will be expensive to keep ordering print copies to have around.

Most books printed by U.S. traditional publishers are produced through offset printing. To use a traditional printer, you usually need to commit to 1,000 copies minimum.

Pros of offset printing

• Lower unit cost
• Higher quality production values, especially for full-color books
• You’ll have plenty of print copies around

Cons of offset printing

• Considerable upfront investment; $2,000 is the likely minimum, which includes the printing and shipping costs.
• Increased risk—what if the books don’t sell or you want to put out a new edition before the old one is sold out?
• You’ll have plenty of print copies around—which means you have books to warehouse and fulfill unless you hire a third party to handle it for you, which then incurs additional costs. 

While it can be fairly straightforward and inexpensive to get a print book in your hands via print-on-demand services, virtually no one can get your book physically ordered or stocked in bookstores. Self-publishing services may claim to distribute your book to stores or make your book available to stores. But this is very different from actually selling your book into bookstores. Bookstores almost never accept or stock titles from any self-publishing service or POD company, although they can special order for customers when asked, assuming the book appears in their system.

Also, think through the paradox: Print-on-demand services or technology should be used for books that are printed only when there’s demand. Your book is not going to be nationally distributed and sitting on store shelves unless or until a real order is placed.

7. Investing in a Print Run: Yes or No?

The 3 key factors are:

1. How and where you plan to sell the book. If you frequently speak and have opportunities to sell your books at events, then it makes sense to invest in a print run. Also consider if you’ll want significant quantities to distribute or sell to business partners or organizations, stock in local/regional retail outlets or businesses, give to clients, etc. I do not recommend investing in a print run because you think bookstores or retail outlets will stock your book. If such an opportunity should arise, then you can always invest in a print run after you have a sales order or firm commitment.
2. Where you’re driving sales. If you’re driving your customers/readers primarily to online retailers, you can fulfill print orders with less hassle and investment by using POD. Ultimately, you do have to use POD regardless if you want to be distributed by the largest U.S. wholesaler, Ingram. (More info below.)
3. What your budget is like. Not everyone is comfortable investing in a print run.

You also need to anticipate your appetite for handling the warehousing, fulfillment, and shipping of 1,000+ books, unless a third party is handling it for you, which will reduce your profit. When the truck pulls up to your house with several pallets piled high with 30-pound boxes, it will be a significant reality check if you haven’t thought through your decision.

8. Print-on-Demand Recommendations

If you choose print-on-demand for your print edition, then I recommend the following:

• Use Ingram Spark to produce a POD edition for all markets except Amazon. By doing so, your book will be listed and available for order through the largest and most preferred U.S. wholesaler, Ingram.
• Using CreateSpace (a division of Amazon) to produce a POD edition for Amazon sales. For many authors, the majority of sales will be through Amazon.

I recommend using both Ingram Spark and CreateSpace to maximize your profits and ensure that no one is discouraged from ordering or stocking the print edition of your book. As you might imagine, independent bookstores aren’t crazy about ordering books provided by CreateSpace/Amazon, their key competitor. However, if you use Ingram Spark to fulfill orders through Amazon, you will reduce your profits because Amazon offers more favorable terms when selling books generated through CreateSpace. So it’s much more advantageous financially to use CreateSpace—but limit the scope of that agreement to just Amazon orders.

As soon as your printer-ready files are uploaded, POD books are generally available for order at Amazon within 48 hours. With Ingram Spark, it generally takes 2 weeks for the book to be available through all their channels.

Example of Print-on-Demand Earnings

This is for a $14.99 standard 6×9 paperback, about 240 pages.

9. Maximizing Your Book Sales

With print books, your success is typically driven by the quality of your book, your visibility or reach to your readership, and your cover. With ebooks, the same factors are in play, plus the following:

• If you check the ebook bestseller lists, you’ll see that independent novelists charge very little for their work, often somewhere between 99 cents and $2.99. Some argue this devalues the work, while others say that it’s appropriate for an ebook from an unknown author. Whatever your perspective, just understand that, if you’re an unknown author, your competition will probably be priced at $2.99 or less to encourage readers to take a chance. Typically, the more well known or trusted you are, the more you can charge. Note: Nonfiction authors should price according to the competition and what the market can bear. Sometimes prices are just as high for digital editions as print editions in nonfiction categories.
• Your Amazon page may be the first and only page a reader looks at when deciding whether to purchase your book. Optimization of this page—the marketing description, the book cover, your author bio, the reviews, and more—is critical for driving sales.
• Giveaways are an important part of ebook marketing and sales strategy for indie authors. I comment more on that here.

This is but a scratch on the surface of the world of ebook marketing. Author Nicholas Erik maintains an excellent beginner’s guide.

10. More Resources

You can read more about self-publishing at the following posts:

• Should You Self-Publish or Traditionally Publish?
• How to Publish an Ebook: Resources for Authors
• The Basics of Self-Publishing by David Gaughran
• Mick Rooney’s Independent Publishing Magazine offers in-depth reviews of just about every publishing service out there. Read his review before using any service. You can also hire him for a consultation if you need expert guidance.

I Want to Pay Someone to Self-Publish My Book

Here are high-quality, full-service publishing providers that I trust.

• Girl Friday Productions
• Radius Book Group
• Winning Edits

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Jane Friedman  This post was first published in 2011 and is regularly updated.

If you have a book idea or a manuscript, one of your first questions is probably:

How do I find a publisher?

Or, if you’re more advanced in your knowledge of book publishing, you may ask:

How do I find a literary agent?

The good news: there’s no shortage of resources for researching publishers and agents. The bad news: you can really get lost going down the rabbit hole of available information!

In the United States, the most comprehensive resource (published since 1920) is the annual Writer’s Market directory, which is also available and searchable online at WritersMarket.com. It features more than 8,000 listings of where you can get published and includes literary agents. While it does cost to purchase the guide (or subscribe online), you can often find it at your local library or bookstore.

Alternatively, you can find a range of free and paid resources online. Some of the sites and tools listed below offer submission trackers, community message boards, and interesting statistics gathered from official site members.

Here’s a summary of the most well-known and popular places to find publishers and agents.

Where to Find Publishers

Be aware that most New York book publishers do not accept unagented submissions, so sometimes “searching for a publisher” really means finding an agent (see next list).

• QueryTracker. Free to start, with premium ($) levels.
• Manuscript Wish List. Editors and publishers often post on social media what projects they’re actively seeking. This site aggregates those mentions.
• Ralan. Free, focused on science fiction & fantasy.
• Poets & Writers. Free, but serves the more literary side of the writing community.
• Duotrope ($). Its strength is in detailing markets related to poetry, short fiction, and essays, but it also has book publisher listings.
• New Pages. This is a curated list of markets popular with creative writing programs and instructors; it’s a good place to go if you’re publishing short stories, poems, and essays.

Where to Find Agents

Before you begin a search in earnest, be sure to read my post: How to Find a Literary Agent

• PublishersMarketplace. Pricey ($25/month), but if you search the Deals Database at this website, you can study what books agents have sold going back to 2001, by category and keyword.
• Manuscript Wish List. Agents often post on social media what projects they’re actively seeking. This site aggregates those mentions.
• AgentQuery. Free, with excellent community message boards.
• QueryTracker. Free to start, with premium ($) levels.
• AAR Online. This is the official membership organization for literary agents. Not all agents are member of AAR.

Some writers really dislike conducting this research. While I think writers should undertake this task for themselves, if you prefer to hire someone to find appropriate agents and publishers for you to submit to, try Grad Student Freelancers.

For more information

• Start Here: How to Get Published
• Start Here: How to Self-Publish

April 26, 2018 by IngramSpark Staff   You can write the absolute best book in the world, have top-of-the-line book distribution and quality, but another essential part to being a successful publisher is taking the time to invest in expanding your publishing knowledge and expertise, because, at the end of the day, your book’s success needs your input.

Take IngramSpark’s FREE Online Self-Publishing Courses

IngramSpark Academy

We now offer free online self-publishing courses on topics that are most beneficial to your success as a publisher or published author. There aren’t authors or publishers in the world who are publishing a book intended for sales that hope they won’t sell any copies. If you’ve done the work to write and publish a brilliant book, then readers should know about it! There also isn’t an author or publisher anywhere who knows all there is to know about publishing. There’s always more to learn as the publishing landscape changes constantly and so do readers and how they consume your content. Traditional publishers are required to adapt to the market as well, but your advantage as an indie publisher is that you’re more versatile than they’ll ever be. Even if you get just one piece of inspiration from seeking out more information, that’s a piece you didn’t have before and weren’t applying to your book’s potential success, so as an indie publisher, one of our best pieces of advice is to never stop learning and looking for opportunity.

Where to Learn How to Self-Publish

The resources are out there! In an IngramSpark podcast spotlight episode (releasing May 1) we interviewed Jason Pinter, New York Times bestselling author and indie publisher, and he said:

“There’s a responsibility that comes with [indie publishing] because there’s too much information available to you to not be knowledgeable.”

There’s no need to publish a book and simply hope for the best when it’s well within your grasp to actually be the best publisher you can be.

IngramSpark helps close the gap between independent publishing and traditional publishing by allowing authors and publishers access to the same global book distribution and quality enjoyed by traditional publishers at prices self-publishers can afford. But why stop there? Offering access to the information and best practices utilized by traditional publishers to make their books more successful is something you, as an indie publisher, can personalize and optimize on a much different level than even traditional publishers can. So yes, IngramSpark helps you print and distribute your print books and ebooks, but we also offer you the educational aspects to help you and your book succeed – of which IngramSpark Academy is one.

Free Online Self-Publishing Courses

Our online self-publishing courses are on areas of the publishing process that most affect your publishing success and on which you and your fellow authors have indicated you’d love to know more.

How to Build an Author Platform

Building your author platform is essential. There’s a reason why this is one of the main reasons authors are acquired by traditional publishers. Having an author platform ensures that an author has a built-in audience for a publication. Every good book needs an audience and every great author deserves fans. This course offers you a better understanding of how and why people buy books and tips on how to find your audience, target your audience, and how to engage with them.

Take the Author Platform Course

How to Increase Book Sales Potential: Metadata for Books

We can’t stress enough how important your book metadata is to your book’s online discoverability, not only to readers, but also to retailers and librarians. This course offers helpful tips in regards to your book’s most essential metadata such as: keywords, title, book description, author bio, subject codes, trim size, ISBN, price, and publication date.

Take the Book Metadata Course

What’s Next for IngramSpark Academy

We’ve already had an incredible response to our first two online self-publishing courses with hundreds enrolled and several 5-star reviews, and we have more planned! Our next two courses to be released will be Social Media Marketing and How to Self-Publish. While not live just yet, you’re welcome to sign up to be notified when they’re available.

We hope you'll take the opportunity to invest in your publisher education, whether it be through our free courses, podcast, blog, or downloadable resources, or by getting involved in a publishing association or attending a conference. It's your content. Do more with it!

by Kirsten Oliphant, the author of Email Lists Made Easy for Writers and Bloggers and the host of the Create If Writing podcast.

My goal is to help writers, bloggers, and creatives like YOU turn readers into raving fans and learn to make a living doing what you love...without being smarmy. Questions? kirsten at kirstenoliphant.com

This Is Post #2 About GDPR And What It Means For Writers And Bloggers In Particular. I’m In The US, So My Thoughts And Take On This Are As Someone NOT In The EU. Here Are Some GDRP FAQS To Help You Understand What You Need To Know!

This post is really going to be a big list with as concise and clear answers as I can give. I’ve got a meatier post that focuses on a few specific aspects of GDPR in more detail and am doing a free training on strategy– particularly how you can use freebies in a post-GDPR world. Now let’s get to those GDPR FAQS!

Note: I’m not a legal expert, nor a lawyer. You should absolutely ask your lawyer or representative for more on this and do your own research as needed to make sure that you are compliant! Also, just know that this is the perspective of someone outside the EU.

GDPR FAQS

WHAT IS GDPR?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and refers to a policy put in place in the EU to harmonize the laws regarding data collection and protection. The goal is to protect private citizens and their data and to hold companies (large and small) more accountable for how they handle data.

WHO DOES IT AFFECT?

Anyone who collects data from people in the EU.

BUT I’M JUST A PERSON! I’M NOT A COMPANY. I’M AN AUTHOR OR BLOGGER. IS THIS THE SAME REQUIREMENT THAT A BIG COMPANY HAS?

Yes and no. A big company will likely have to appoint a specific person in charge of this according to GDPR. The fines are set to be proportionate to size, so if you’re investigated, they will take into account your size, but being small or a solopreneur does NOT give you a pass. Anyone of any size handling data from persons in the EU is under GDPR.

WHAT’S DATA?

Essentially any information: email address, name, or any other information.

BUT I’M LOCATED OUTSIDE OF THE EU. DOES THIS REALLY IMPACT ME THE SAME WAY?

Yes and no. You are responsible for how you handle data from persons inside the EU. This may or may not be a large percentage, but you are still responsible. This means that you either need to make all your forms and policies compliant across the board or find a way to create EU-specific forms that only people in the EU can see. That’s fairly challenging.

WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO IF I IGNORE GDPR?

Probably nothing. But if you have complaints, there are high fines (proportionate to the size of your company). You don’t want to have an investigation or break the trust of your followers by not complying with this. (Even if you don’t like it and don’t live in the EU.) They ARE taking this seriously.

I’M JUST A BLOGGER. WHAT KIND OF DATA DO I EVEN HAVE ACCESS TO?

You might be surprised to learn that it could be a LOT. Many websites (wordpress included) store data in your dashboard in contact forms and even in your comments section. Yikes! You may want to consider a plugin like this GDPR Compliance one to add checkboxes for consent to any places people might enter data.

WHAT OTHER DATA DOES MY WEBSITE COLLECT?

In addition to comments and forms, if you are using Google Analytics or a Facebook pixel for tracking and retargeting, you should be letting people know about that in your privacy policy. If you’ve uploaded your email list to Facebook to run ads to your people or a lookalike audience, that’s also a use of data that GDPR would like for you to have permission to do. Again, be clear in your privacy policy.

NO ONES READS MY PRIVACY POLICY. DOES IT MATTER?

Yes! It’s a legal contract between you and your readers. And now under GDPR, your privacy policy should be linked to in every form where you ask someone to sign up for your email list.

HOW CAN I CREATE A GOOD PRIVACY POLICY?

You can create your own based on great examples you see or templates, but often that may leave you out to dry if you are investigated. GDPR wants it to be in plain language, concise, but also cover all the bases of the ways you use and collect data. If you feel comfortable with that, great! If not, I highly recommend checking out the privacy policy package from Businessese, my fave legal team. I’m an affiliate for their programs because I’ve used them for legal documents! Check out their privacy policy package.

HOW DOES GDPR AFFECT MY EMAIL LIST?

If you are using a trusted provider like ConvertKit, Mailerlite, or Mailchimp (to name a few), you’re likely in good hands. These are what GDPR calls data processors, which means that they have a responsibility with the data you collect for your email list. They will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

If you are NOT using a trusted provider and you are sending out emails via gmail to a mass group or using a service that’s free but no one has heard of, STOP. Get serious about this. There are US laws as well (like the CAN-SPAM Act) that have lots of requirements that these same email service providers help you maintain.

SO WHAT WILL MY EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER DO FOR ME?

That depends on the provider. I use and highly recommend ConvertKit and they have been FABULOUS. They are working to provide checkboxes (more on that in a sec) to help you gain lawful consent. They also created a segment for EU people in the back end of your email so that you can obtain consent from those people already on your list.

• If you aren’t sure which email service provider to use, I’ve got a post that may help you! Read Which Is the Best Email Service Provider for YOU

WAIT, AREN’T THOSE OLD EMAILS GRANDFATHERED IN?

Nope. They aren’t.

SO WHAT THE HECK DO I DO WITH THOSE EMAILS?

Again, some of this depends on your email service provider. Convertkit made it possible for you to send an email just to your EU subscribers, asking them for consent. Contact your provider to see what they are doing.

I GIVE UP. CAN’T I JUST BLOCK EU PEOPLE?

Probably…but do you really want to? Let’s just calm down and try to focus. Your email service provider may also allow you to show the EU forms just to EU people. This can be tricky because of ip addresses and such, but is at least a step, especially if 90% of your audience is not in the EU and you don’t want to have to apply those standards to everything.

SO WHAT DO I NEED ON MY EMAIL SIGN-UP FORMS TO COMPLY WITH GDPR?

A few things. First, you need to link to your privacy policy, as mentioned above. You also need to be incredibly clear about what people receive when they sign up for your email list. This should be ONE thing, not a bundle. In essence, you can’t ask someone to sign up to get your free book AND your marketing emails. Not without a checkbox.

I NEED A CHECKBOX? WHAT? HOW DO I GET THESE?

Yes, you need a checkbox if you want to send people signing up for your freebie other emails AFTER they get the freebie. (This is, to me, the biggest impact and I’ll circle back to this in a minute.) You can’t have the checkbox pre-filled, either. People have to actively consent to the marketing emails. Your email service provider, again, should help take care of this.

WHAT IF PEOPLE DON’T CHECK THE BOX? DO THEY GET MY FREEBIE FOR…FREE?

Yes. This is where a lot of people outside the EU are balking, for good reason. Freebies have long been a way to grow your email list, whether you are an author who is offering a reader magnet or someone giving a free book or offering a free webinar or workshop.

WHAT IF I DON’T WANT TO DO THAT?

I feel you. I don’t like this one bit. We are all adults, after all. It seems that communicating clearly on the form would be enough. Not according to GDPR, though. That leaves you with a few options:

1. Add the checkboxes to all forms
2. Try to have the checkboxes show just to EU people (if you are able)
3. Use clear language on the form without a checkbox *non-compliant option
4. Use a follow up sequence to people from the EU who download a freebie, offering them the option to op-in *non-compliant option

ARE YOU SUGGESTING THAT I DON’T COMPLY WITH GDPR?

No. But I am saying that for many of us outside of the US, we may have a tiny number of EU subscribers. I checked and mine is personally under 2%. I personally don’t want to have checkboxes on every form I have, meaning people get all my freebies without giving me an email. You need to do what you feel is the best option for you to comply with GDPR but also run your business the way you run your business. (Yes, I know that sounds very American of me. I’m from the US, so yeah. I’m independent and sometimes a bit stubborn.)

I’ve heard raging debates over this from various “experts” and it seems that GDPR has many interpretations. Honestly, until this bad boy is in place and we start seeing how it impacts things, we won’t have a fully clear view. I’m making plans and updating things, but also watching closely to see how this all pans out.

IF I’M INVESTIGATED, HOW CAN I PROVE THAT I COMPLIED?

This is tricky, but double opt-in is a good start. I’ve recommended this anyway, but this is a way that will create a clear proof of the path someone took to get on your list. Read more about double opt-in and permissions and why I recommend double.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M USING DOUBLE OPT-IN?

Often it’s the default. Mailchimp made single opt-in the default this year (in a move I can’t wrap my brain around), so you may need to go into each list you have on Mailchimp and check the settings. Always check as well that your forms and signup process are optimized and customized.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER WAYS THAT I GET PEOPLE ONTO MY LIST? HOW DOES GDPR AFFECT THIS?

Well, if you are hosting a webinar, running a virtual summit, offering a reader magnet in the back of an Amazon book, doing a giveaway in exchange for an email, running a quiz that people need to opt into to get their results, giving away a PDF, doing a free workshop, creating bonus content, or any other method where people sign up for one thing and also get a follow-up sequence that leads to your regular emails, YOU NEED TO CONSIDER CONSENT. Go back up to the whole checkboxes thing.

WHAT ABOUT WHEN I GET A BUSINESS CARD AND ADD SOMEONE’S EMAIL TO MY LIST FROM THERE?

Um, you shouldn’t have ever done that. If you have, I’m not shaming you, but that’s not okay. The really great thing about GDPR is that it’s forcing people to market more honestly. Adding someone to your list without permission is not good. Don’t do that. Ever. Okay? Glad we had that talk.

PEOPLE CAN UNSUBSCRIBE IN EVERY EMAIL THROUGH A LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE EMAIL. AM I COVERED?

Not quite. Under GDPR, people have the right to be forgotten, which means that their data isn’t stored at all on the servers. This could be a challenge for you, but if you’re using a trusty email service provider, again–they will do the heavy lifting and make sure you can do this.

WITH THIS WHOLE FACEBOOK/CAMBRIDGE THING, EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT BREACHES. DO I NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THAT?

If you are using a trusted provider, you need to worry less. We pay them the big bucks to protect that data. And if there is a breach, they’ll help you comply, which means emailing those affected within 72 hours, being clear about what the breach entailed.

IT SOUNDS LIKE AN EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER REALLY IS THE RESPONSIBLE ONE. DOESN’T THE WEIGHT OF THIS FALL ON THEM?

No. Under GDPR, your email service provider is the processor of data, but you are the controller. You decide what you’re doing with the data and communicate that clearly. Thus you are the one who is primarily responsible and accountable. In partnership with a good email service provider (again, I cannot recommend ConvertKit enough), you have a strong position for compliance.

WHAT ABOUT THIRD PARTY CONNECTORS, LIKE LEADPAGES OR SUMOME OR INSTAFREEBIE OR BOOKFUNNEL?

Those are making things more complex. Because they need to talk to your email service provider, there is a chance that they won’t talk well enough to transfer that compliance over. Some of those third-party tools may change their policy or how they collect data or what they do. This may be a good time to streamline your tools, but for sure at the least check their blogs or email them to see what they are doing to help facilitate compliance.

I’M EXHAUSTED AND ANGRY. WHAT DO I DO?

Me too, man. Me too. Here are a few things you can do:

1. Read more in depth about GDPR in this post on how it impacts writers and bloggers where I go a bit deeper.
2. Join me for a free training on strategy for using freebies in a post-GDPR world.
3. Come on into my Facebook group. We can moan or groan about this and then talk about how we are going go comply.

SO…I CAN’T JUST PLUG MY EARS AND SAY LA-LA-LA?

I mean, you CAN. But I wouldn’t recommend it. Take a deep breath. Then start taking steps to comply. Check out my bigger post that has action steps.

MY BIG GDPR TAKEAWAYS

Here are a few things that I like about GDPR (because honestly, much of it makes me very stabby) and what I think we can take away from this regulation.

BE HONEST AND UP FRONT. 

We should be doing this anyway, right? GDPR helps give clarity. If you are signing up for an email list, it’s good to know what that means. We should all be doing this anyway, but GDPR is a great reminder that we should always make our intentions clear.

USE BEST PRACTICES. 

Don’t buy email lists. Don’t add people without permission. Don’t be smarmy!! Use smart marketing tactics that don’t break people’s trust! If it feels gross, you shouldn’t have been doing it anyway. GDPR puts some serious weight behind this.

PAY ATTENTION TO EMAIL. 

I’ve heard people freaking out about this, saying they’re done with email. Calm down, son. Email is still incredibly powerful. We’ll survive GDPR just like we survived Y2K. If nothing else, it’s a great reminder that your email should not be an afterthought. Here are more resources and list-building tips to get you started!

Written by Tom Demers for HubSpot - Marketing

There's nothing quite like a sudden Google algorithm update to leave marketers feeling equal parts confused and concerned. It seems like they wait for you to get all of your ducks in a row and then unleash an update that makes your efforts instantly obsolete.

Sure, they're pretty open about that fact that they're doing this for everyone's own good -- each algorithm tweak brings us one step closer to more relevant search results, after all. However, there is still some secrecy behind exactly how Google evaluates a website and ultimately determines which sites to show for which search queries.

That said, there are a number of tools out there -- some free, some paid -- that help you to look at your own site the way that Google sees it.

Stop wasting time on SEO strategies that don't work with the help of this free PDF guide >>

These tools are critical to your organic search strategy because they allow you to focus on the elements of your site that Google deems important. In this post, we'll walk through 10 such tools that all help you run a site analysis like a marketer ... and a Google bot!

12 SEO Monitoring and Keyword Tools for 2018

1. Google's Webmaster Tools

Cost: Free

Purpose: Site Analysis

Perhaps the best way to understand the way Google sees your site is to ask Google. Google's Webmaster Tools are novice-friendly resources that explain the fundamentals of Google search.

For example, Google's Fetch as Google tool allows you to see a particular URL as Google sees it, which is critical when troubleshooting for poor SEO performance. The information returned can help you modify the page in question for better results, and can even help you isolate problematic code when you believe your site's been hacked.

Another great feature of Google Webmaster Tools is PageSpeed Insights. This SEO tool measures the performance of both your desktop and mobile site in terms of speed. With mobile search queries surpassing desktop searches, page speed is becoming increasingly important to businesses that want to hold on to their visitors.

"PageSpeed Insights evaluates how well a page follows common performance best practices and computes a score from 1-100 that estimates its performance headroom," according to Google Developers. That score can be Good, as in 80 or above; Medium, as in 60 to 79; or Low, as in 0 to 59.

2. SEMrush

Cost: Free

Purpose: Keyword Research

SEMrush is a super elaborate dashboard that reports on the performance of domains as a whole and their specific pages. The website offers numerous toolkits, one of which is an SEO toolkit.

Below is one of the toolkit's flagship features, allowing you to plug in a website page to see for what keywords it's ranking, what the page's rank is for that keyword, the keyword's monthly search volume, and more.

The rest of the SEO toolkit allows you to compare your page performance to competition, analyze backlinks from other websites to your site (also known as link building), research appropriate keywords, and take advantage of similar on-page SEO opportunities.

3. HubSpot's Website Grader

Cost: Free

Purpose: Site Analysis

Back in 2007, HubSpot released a tool called Website Grader that helped businesses uncover search engine optimization opportunities. Because a lot has changed since then, the company has released a new and improved version of the tool.

Website Grader is an online tool that generates personalized reports based on the following key metrics:

• Performance. The tool will analyze your site's page size, requests, speed, and similar key SEO metrics.
• Mobile Readiness. The tool will see if your website is mobile-friendly in terms of responsiveness and viewport settings.
• SEO. The tool will determine if your website is easy to find -- both by humans and bots. This determination will take factors like page titles and meta descriptions into consideration.
• Security. The tool will look for things like an SSL certificate. This serves as a way to prove to visitors that your site is both authentic and safe for contact information submissions.

All you need is your website URL and an email address to get started. Simply plug in your information and you can expect a score (1-100) as well as a detailed report in a matter of seconds.

Aside from Website Grader, HubSpot also has a handful of paid SEO tools to help you better direct your efforts.

For example, within the HubSpot Blogging App, users will find as-you-type SEO suggestions. This helpful inclusion serves as a checklist for content creators of all skill levels. HubSpot customers also have access to the Page Performance App, Sources Report, and the Keyword App. The HubSpot Marketing Platform will provide you with the tools you need to research keywords, monitor their performance, track organic search growth, and diagnose pages that may not be fully optimized.

4. Check My Links

Cost: Free

Purpose: Link Optimization

To ensure that your links on a webpage -- whether external or internal -- actually work, consider Check My Links.

This broken-link checker makes it easy for a publisher or editor to make corrections before a page is live. Think about a site like Wikipedia, for example. The Wikipedia page for the term "marketing" contains a whopping 711 links. Not only was Check My Links able to detect this number in a matter of seconds, but it also found (and highlighted) seven broken links.

The tool highlights all the good links in green, and those that are broken in red, making it easy to spot the ones that don't work or are no longer active.

5. BuzzStream

Cost: Free 14-day trial, then paid plans from $24/mo

Purpose: Link Building

BuzzStream might be the most inexpensive way to manage your outreach to the people who can provide inbound links to your website.

Although backlinks to your website are critical to ranking well on Google, the outreach you do while link building can feel a lot like cold calling. BuzzStream makes it easy to research the appropriate people, come up with effective email messages, and track who's accepted each link request. Your link building queue looks like this:

Image via BuzzStream

BuzzStream helps you identify candidates for outreach based on their industry and how engaged they are across various social networks -- so you know who will be most receptive to your backlink request and boost your ranking on Google.

6. Moz's Pro Tools

Cost: Free 30-day trial, then paid plans from $99/mo

Purpose: Site Analysis

The Moz Pro subscription serves as an all-in-one tool for increasing your business' search ranking. Moz's collection of research tools provides subscribers with the resources they need to identify SEO opportunities, track growth, build reports, and optimize their overall efforts. 

For example, the Crawl Test tool employs Moz's own web crawler, RogerBot, to analyze up to 3,000 links on a given URL. Once completed, users then receive an email report that details the data for each page the site links to.

Image via Moz

This is super helpful if you're looking to identify "crawlability" factors, such as duplicate content and redirects that could be influencing your SEO performance.

7. UpCity's SEO Report Card

Cost: Free

Purpose: Share of Voice

SEO Report Card by UpCity lets you analyze your website to determine how it stacks up against your competitors.

In exchange for a bit of your contact information, SEO Report Card will serve up a report that covers the following:

• Rank Analysis. A snapshot of where your website ranks on Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Your ranking is based on the main keyword you select when putting information in to build the report.
• Link Building. A detailed account of the number of websites that link back to your site.
• On-Site Analysis. A look at how successful you were in incorporating your main keyword throughout your site.
• Website Accessibility. A section focused on your site's load time and ease of accessibility for crawlers.
• Trust Metrics. An overview of your site's level of trust or authority.
• Current Indexing. An indication of how many of your site pages have been indexed.

8. Woorank

Cost: Free 14-day trial, then $49/mo for a Pro Plan or $149/mo for a Premium Plan

Purpose: Site Analysis

Woorank's in-depth site analysis helps marketers reveal opportunities for optimization and improvement. This analysis takes into account the performance of existing SEO initiatives, social media, usability, and more.

Each report is divided into eight sections:

• Marketing Checklist
• SEO
• Mobile
• Usability
• Technologies
• Social
• Local
• Visitors

Spanning across 70+ metrics, it would be hard -- if not impossible -- to not uncover opportunities for improvement.

As a bonus, Woorank makes it easy for users to download their reviews as branded PDFs. This makes company-wide distribution and presentation more streamlined than ever.

9. Screaming Frog's SEO Spider

Cost: The LITE version is free (with limitations*), and the paid plan is $160/year

Purpose: Site Analysis

The Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a search marketer's best friend.

Designed specifically for the SEO-minded, this program crawls the websites you specify, examining the URLs for common SEO issues. This program simplifies and expedites an otherwise time-consuming process -- especially for larger websites. It could take hours or days to manually evaluate the same URLs.

Take a closer look at how it works:

The Java program is fairly intuitive, with easy-to-navigate tabs. Additionally, you can export any or all of the data into Excel for further analysis. So say you're using Optify, Moz, or RavenSEO to monitor your links or rankings for specific keywords -- you could simply create a .csv file from your spreadsheet, make a few adjustments for the proper formatting, and upload it to those tools.

*Pricing limitations include: You can only scan 500 URLs per website, and you don't have full access to configuration options and source code features. To remove these limitations, users can purchase a 12-month license for around $160/year.

10. Found's SEO Audit Tool

Cost: Free

Purpose: Site Analysis

Want to rise above your competitors on search engine results pages?

(Who doesn't?)

The SEO Audit Tool by Found is an easy-to-use tool for marketers looking to identify (and solve) common SEO errors on a website.

Simply enter your URL and receive an instant automated SEO audit of your site. Found's SEO Audit Tool is broken down into three main parts:

• Technical issues. This reports on factors like domain canonicalization and XML sitemaps.
• Content issues. This focuses on influential factors like keywords and meta data.
• External link analysis. This aims to evaluate the quantity and quality of external links.

Similar to Woorank, once you run a report, the tool makes it easy for you to download the results as a PDF to be easily shared within your organization.

11. Remove'em

Cost: $249 per domain or a subscription option starting at $99/mo

Purpose: Link Building

Have you ever purchased links? Spammed the comments section on a string of blogs using the same message and link? If so, we'll forgive your bad judgment just this once ... but Google won't.

Artificial or unnatural links have the potential to seriously hurt your search ranking. To clean them up, check out Remove'em:

This helpful tool scans your backlink profile and turns up a list of contact information for the links and domains you'll need to reach out to for removal. Alternatively, the tool also allows you to export the list if you wish to disavow them using Google's tool. (Essentially, this tool tells Google not to take these links into account when crawling your site.)

12. Varvy's SEO Overview Tool

Cost: Free

Purpose: Site Analysis

This SEO auditing tool provides users with information regarding their domain strength, links, image SEO, social counts and mentions, page/technical SEO, page speed, and more.

The comprehensive report is prepared in less than a minute, and dives deep into different aspects of your website's performance. You'll notice that the tool employs green checks, red Xs, and yellow exclamation points to denote the severity of the issue.

One the our favorite features is the detailed image overview:

This section of the report focuses on the strength of the images your website employs by analyzing the alt text. If you're using too many words, missing alt text, or the alt text appears weak, the tool will notify you so that you can make any necessary changes.

Getting Started

You'll never get a look behind the Google curtain to learn everything they know (or don't know) about your site. But by leveraging SEO best practices and getting the most out of tools like those listed here, you can greatly increase the chances that your website will show up in response to the right search queries.

From the Reedsy "About" page:

Crafting beautiful books is at the heart of everything that Reedsy does. We're changing the way books are published by giving authors and publishers access to talented professionals, powerful tools, and free educational content. Reedsy was founded in the summer of 2014 by Emmanuel Nataf, Ricardo Fayet, Vincent Durand and Matt Cobb. Since then, we’re proud to have built a network of world-class publishing professionals and helped produce over 3,000 books.

Quality, creativity and diversity

Publishers and authors trust us to provide them with quality talent. That’s why we only work with editors, designers, marketers, and ghostwriters who have experience crafting books that land on the New York Times bestseller list. Authors come to us from a range of backgrounds. Maintaining a diverse roster of professionals ensures that authors from all walks of life can find the right people to help. This is our challenge: to allow you to exercise your creativity by making sure our services are perfectly suited to your genre and budget. That’s why you will find that Reedsy professionals come from all across the globe: based in over 30 countries, they have worked with clients of all sizes and sensibilities. Our idea is simple: the more perspectives we can bring to the table, the more unique the books produced on Reedsy will be. We believe that in a world otherwise dominated by a mass-market culture, the need for a diversity of books is greater than ever. To see examples of books created on Reedsy, read our Author Stories.

A full ecosystem for authors and publishing professionals

As you immerse yourself into our ecosystem, you will discover that Reedsy can help at every stage of your publishing journey. Whether you start writing with the Reedsy Book Editor, or polish your prose with assistance from the marketplace, we can provide the support you need to publish your story. For all writers, our blog offers insights into publishing and the writing craft. If you prefer video, you can watch a different publishing professional answer your questions via our Reedsy Live events, which we present every two weeks. And our Reedsy Learning courses are here to help any author through the learning curves in the publishing industry. We provide all these tools for free so that authors can learn and then concentrate on what they do best: writing.

We live the way our community lives

Reedsy is made possible thanks to the incredible professionals who have joined our network. They work from over 600 cities, covering most continents. We are strong believers in the power of remote work. The Reedsy team itself hails from over ten different countries and speaks as many languages. We’re entrepreneurs, designers, writers, hackers, bikers, engineers, runners, developers, soccer analysts, musicians, photographers, readers, travelers, gardeners, knitters, hikers, campers, and hard workers. And we’re here to help you.

Funded by the European Union

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 734046.

We’re doing this because we care

We’re not just building Reedsy to make money and for the occasional feature in a renowned publication. After a few years building the company, it was important to us as founders to give back, which is why we started the #IWriteBecause campaign in May 2017. The campaign has reached over 6.7 million people to date and allowed us to donate to Room to Read, a non-profit organization that provides girls in Africa and Asia with access to education.

Always at your service

If you have a general question for us, just drop us an email at service@reedsy.com. If you want to talk to someone in customer service, just log in to your account and hit the “Help!” button. We’ll get back to you right away. Lastly, if you’re just learning about publishing, please feel free to ask us anything you like, or say, “Hi,” on our blog. We won’t bite! You can also follow along on Twitter @ReedsyHQ, Facebook, Instagram @reedsy_hq and YouTube.

Just a few days after the 55th Bologna Children's Book Fair - a particularly successful edition, confirming its leading role among international children's publishing events - BolognaFiere is once more in the limelight with a new important partnership in the United States.

The new NEW YORK RIGHTS FAIR (NYRF), created by BolognaFiere in partnership with Publishers Weekly and The Combined Book Exhibit, signed an agreement with BOOKEXPO, the American book fair organized by Reed Exhibition, allowing the two events to work together to better serve the publishing industry.

As of 2018, NYRF will thus become the "Official Rights Fair" of BOOKEXPO, i.e. the professional section for trading of copyright.

This joint marketing agreement will allow BookExpo and NYRF to work together and offer the entire publishing industry the perfect gateway to the US publishing market, including increased access to resurgent US bookstores, and more opportunities for rights professionals to embrace the explosion in new media and rights opportunities.

The new relationship will help to bring together all aspects of the publishing industry, providing the strongest foundation for those looking to pursue publishing rights in the US and internationally. 

Find out more

by IngramSpark Staff April 03, 2018

Advances in technology have given writers the power to put their words to paper and publish a book. In the not so distant past, traditional publishing was the only way for authors to get their works printed and distributed with any credibility. Now, aspiring authors can do most of this work on their own and the bias around self-publishing is falling away. If done correctly, self-published books can have the same superior quality and marketability as books that receive treatment from a traditional publisher and here's how.

Most self-publishing authors will need to work with various freelancers to get their manuscript through the book editing, book design, and book publishing phases, all of which are necessary to your book's successful publication.

The Book Editing Process

You've finished your book; the next step is to have your manuscript professionally edited. There are many different types of edits, so consider which you think your book needs before hiring an editor or send your book for an editorial review so an editor can help you decide. Editors do so much more than fix spelling and grammatical errors. They make sure your story is cohesive from start to finish and that your plot and characters make sense throughout. Rates for editing can vary greatly depending on how much work your manuscript requires and what kind of editors your work with.

The Book Design Process

The design process includes book cover design, interior design, and book formatting for print books and ebooks. Contrary to the most famous of idioms, the cover of your book greatly affects its sales potential. The cover should be optimized for all media: print, digital, thumbnails, e-readers, and more. If you have a talent for book design or your own cover image in mind, creating the cover on your own can save you a great deal of money. You can also look for templated designs or book cover design tools to help you. However, if you do not have design skills, you will want to hire a professional. Professional designers vary in cost as well as editors, but you generally get what you pay for as far as cover design. Understanding the significance of your book cover, be sure you invest in getting this particular piece right.

Your interior design is what makes your book readable. It helps orient a reader to where they are in your book and should never distract from the story. Interior design is subtle, but necessary, including things such as the table of contents, chapter openers, page breaks, running heads, and page numbers. Be sure not to miss these standard elements, because nothing says unprofessional book quite like missing the basics of all book design. 

Once the design of your book's cover and interior are complete, you can format your book for both print and digital. Many authors will create a print version because there's a great deal of nostalgia and sense of accomplishment when you get to hold your finished book in your hands, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't also create an ebook. There are many reasons to create both versions. By printing only the copies you sell with print on demand and making your book available for purchase online you extend your selling power for maximum results without wasting any time or energy.

ISBNs

If you're publishing your book with the intent of selling it, you will need to purchase and assign it an ISBN. The ISBN identifies your book as its own unique product and allows you to list yourself as the publisher and control the metadataassociated with it. It's important to be wary of "free" ISBNs because assigning one that is provided for you limits your capabilities. You should understand the importance of owning your own ISBN before accepting a "free" one. ISBNs cost $125 for one, or $250 for ten. If you intend to publish your book in multiple formats (meaning perhaps a hardcover version, a paperback version, and an ebook version of the same title), you will need individual ISBNs for each version, in which case, buying a block of ten ISBNs is a much better value.

United States IngramSpark Publishers Receive a Special Discount on Individual ISBNs from Bowker—Login to Your Account to Receive Yours!

Book Distribution

Book distribution used to be the biggest roadblock for self-publishing authors. You could publish a well-written, well-designed book, but there was no way to get it out to the masses. Thankfully, that's no longer true. Self-published books are made available to independent bookstores, chain bookstores (such as Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million), online retailers (such as Amazon, Kobo, and Apple iBooks), libraries, and so much more. With IngramSpark, independent publishers can tap into the same book distribution traditional publishers access, including over 39,000 retailers and libraries and over 70 major online retailers. And not only that, IngramSpark's book distribution is global, connecting your book with a world of readers.

Learn More About IngramSpark's Book Distribution

Book Marketing

Once you've written your book, lined up editors and designers, and determined your publication date, you'll need to be thinking about your book marketing strategy! You'll want to plan your book promotion long before you publish a book, because you want your book to have the best chance of succeeding, right? How can your book succeed if you haven't first told anyone about it? The first step to every good book marketing plan is to determine your audience. It's a mistake to think your book is for everyone because realistically, it's not, and by trying to push your book to everyone, you lose focus and spend a lot of time (and potentially) money targeting the wrong people. Start here, and then check out the marketing and promotion section of the IngramSpark blog for tons of specific book marketing tactics. There are also many experts that help self-publishers learn how to market their books with channels like social media, book review sites, etc, so feel free to pursue that route as well.

There has never been a more exciting time to be an author, and when it comes down to how to self-publish a book, we hope you'll turn to IngramSpark for support along the way. We're probably a bit bias, but we think we're the best option for authors hoping to self-publish a book and we hope you'll allow us to prove that to you! Happy publishing!