Siriusly!

Table of Contents:

1. Letter from the Editor
2. Our Books in Print- Book reviews
3. Feature article: Publishing vs. Self-Publishing vs. E-publishing
4. ISBN Numbers assigned
5. Orion Program- helping self-publishers and our authors to be successful
6. Read Me! Authors' Web Page Tips
7. Writing-related Links

From the Editor

Dear Readers and Authors:

As always, we have many new developments. I'll share the most important ones with you rather than leave you in suspense: First, we received many qualified submissions recently and added several new titles to our catalog. Several manuscripts are under review for publication. Thanks to all our new authors for considering us in their publishing aspirations! They will be hearing from me in the next few weeks (maybe sooner!) regarding the manuscripts.

Second, The Orion Program is outlined below. It is primarily for self-published authors or those that would like to self-publish, however it is also for our authors who would like to try other venues for their books.

Third, the PayPal system is now in use for purchasing books. We will also be using it as our preferred method of paying our authors, and also for payments for other services. Therefore all authors are encouraged to sign up through this link:

https://secure.paypal.com/affil/pal=sirius%40sirius-books.com

For a limited time, when you sign up using the link we will get a $5 referral fee from them, and you will get a $5 new member bonus.

Promotion: We are advertising in Writer's Write as well as in the Write Markets Report newsletter. Just recently we were added to the list of e-publishers on the About.com Publishing Guide site. We are planning numerous advertising plans in the coming month, including sponsorship of a contest on a writers' site to raise awareness of our company. Now that we have our payment services set up, we can concentrate on promotion.

What's New?

• More reviews have been added to Sirius Recommends at http://www.sirius-books.com/recommend.html.
• Many pages have been updated or added, including: our books page, advertising, Orion Program.
• Coming soon: Free author/writing classified ads

As always, we'd love to hear from you as to ways to improve the site. Thanks again for your support of Sirius Publications (tm). Look below for more Sirius info and news.

Happy Reading!

Kerri K

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Feature Article: Publishing vs. Self-Publishing vs. E-Publishing by Agela Adair-Hoy

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Thanks to the Internet and technology, we no longer have two options to consider when authoring a book.

More writers are self-publishing their own e-books and having success. I receive daily e-mails and phone calls from writers wanting advice on self-publishing. This is what I share as I explain publishing options to budding authors.

TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING

If I went the traditional publishing route, received a $3K advance, worked my fingers to the bone, and saw my book in print, things would be looking pretty good, right?

Well, not really. Let's say my publisher offers me a 5,000 printing with a list price of $10.00. The most my book could gross, barring a reprinting, would be $50,000. I get 10% royalties (which are taken out of the advance I received), totaling $5,000. That's it. There's nothing more.

If you've ever written a book, you know that calculates to a very low hourly rate.

SELF-PUBLISHING

Now, let's say I publish my own book, print 5,000 (at a cost of $2.50 per book for 200 pages), and sell them all. My profit would be $50,000 minus printing costs of $12,500, totaling $37,500.

But, would I be able to afford the printing costs? Uh, no. Even if I could, would I be able to sell all my books on my own? Probably not. So, things still aren't looking too rosy.

Sure, I have lots of pretty books stacked in my garage to show off to friends and family. They don't call it vanity publishing for nothing.

E-PUBLISHING

Now, let's say I e-publish my own book. There are no printing costs and no minimum order. (I can 'sell' as many file attachments as I want.) My expense was my time to write and format the book. The rest is pure profit.

This week, I sold books to readers in the UK, Australia, Canada, and even Grenada. That's not including the hundreds I've sold in the US in the past month. My website's global reach far exceeds the exposure I would receive from a distributor. And, my books aren't lined up on a shelf sitting cover to cover with my competitors.

The Internet has made it possible for small publishers to venture out on their own. We no longer have to depend on a distributor to deliver our books to large bookstores. There's a whole wide world of readers out there that will buy our books online. The Internet has changed our options, and things are looking grand!

But, how do you find those readers? How do they find you? My advice is to publish a free e-mail newsletter on your book's topic. Start the newsletter before you start the book. Letters from your readers will give you ideas for your upcoming book. You'll know what they want and what they need. They, in turn, will trust that you have the answers, because you are the expert in your field. And,they will buy your book.
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Angela Adair-Hoy is the co-owner of Booklocker.com and WritersWeekly.com. Booklocker (http://www.booklocker.com) lists ebooks for authors for free, pays 70% royalties, and only requests non-exclusive rights. Authors are free to list and sell their ebooks elsewhere. WritersWeekly.com (http://www.writersweekly.com) is the FREE marketing emag for writers featuring new freelance jobs and paying markets delivered to your emailbox every Wednesday.

Our Books in Print- Book Reviews

Transformations by Nora Mulligan was reviewed by LeAnn 'Buzzy' Arndt (Buzzy's Reviews.) Here's what she said:
"Entertaining.... Reading it is an adventure.... It is scary but not Steve King scary. It is scary in the same way that classic horror films made you afraid of the monster under the bed and the killer hiding in the closet.... "[Nora Mulligan] deserves to take her place as one of the best [in the horror genre]."

Full review available on the site.

New Books added to our catalog:

ISBN Numbers Assigned

Do you know Adobe PageMaker or QuarkExpress? We are looking for someone familiar with formatting documents (particularly books) using these programs. If this is you, please contact me at sirius@sirius-books.com and tell me what fee you would charge per book to convert documents from Word to either of these formats. Make a bid!

Orion Program

This is a beneficial program for self-published authors who have rights to their book and wish to promote their book and increase sales. It consists of:

• Listing in our books database- $5 per month.
• Preparing your book for digital/electronic versions and selling through our site- exclusive contract, no charge; non-exclusive contract- one-time $150 fee.
• ISBN and Library of Congress number for your book- $25
• Facilitating enhancements to your book's listing on Amazon.com- $25-50

You may purchase these items singly or purchase the whole package for $200. The package includes a listing for a year, non-exlusive contract; publication is subject to acceptance of your book by the editors. If it is not accepted for e-book publication on our site, or if you wish to decline that option, the package will be $100.

For All Authors: This option is available to anyone, including authors published by Sirius Publications. We will facilitate the self-publishing process (producing trade paperbacks rather than print on demand), by serving as a liaison with printers and designers. The author would then receive the books and either handle orders or have us handle orders and the author would handle shipping of orders to customers. Please contact us for a quote if you are interested in this option.

More information on the Orion Program available on the site.

Read Me! How to Promote Your Book with a Web Page

So you have a web page. Now how can you use it to promote yourself and your book? Remember, some people will be linking to your page from our site, others will be coming from outside (i.e. hopefully you've submitted your URL to search engines.) The following is a list of web page elements that will ensure that your page has the reader drooling to read your books.

Make it clear that you can order the book online. Have a link to your book's selling page.

Put some interesting information about yourself. It doesn't have to be too personal, just something that highlights your unique character.

Explain the title of your book, and any special meaning your tale has for you; maybe how you got the idea.

Include some excerpts of prose you are particularly fond of, and information about other works you have published/written.

Relevant background info and links.

Your email address so readers can email the author. Post their comments.

Your photo (but watch that it isn't too large.)

Update often.

Source: Author Tips: Making Your Own Web Page by Debbie Ridpath Ohi (see her article for much more information and details about web page building for authors.) Also see our offer for free web pages.

Writing-Related Links (Promotion)

Promotion tips:

• Inkspot
• Mighty Words: How to Get Noticed
• About.com Publishing Guide Promotion Tips
• About.Com Publishing Guide lists book review sites

Links of interest:

• Publishing Guide
• Book Idea Magazine
• Ebooknet
• NovelAdvice: Site for Authors

Lots more promotion links are found on our site.

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