Every week I receive emails from many of my newsletter readers asking me to comment on publishing companies, which I am happy to do. What amazes me is how many of these “publishers” never offer the names of the people involved with the company. They typically make very generic statements such as “our executives have years of corporate experience,” and to that my response is: corporate experience in what?

If you are serious about publishing a work that you have spent enormous amounts of time creating, why in the world would you trust a company to publish that is afraid or unwilling to reveal who they are? I’m sorry folks but this is wrong! You are making a huge mistake if you turn your writing over to these kinds of companies! This follows the theme of my last blog, it's a buyer beware kind of industry, especially for the Independent writer.

If you don’t know the questions to ask, or you find a publisher that does not reveal who they are and what their experience in publishing might be, then please, avoid! Run the other way! Protect your copyright, protect the investment in your manuscript, save your money, don’t waste your time, there are plenty of reputable publishers.

Every day I receive emails from authors who are busting their backs marketing their books. They are serious, hardworking, and leave few stones unturned. Many times the problem with lack of sales is that it’s difficult to attract attention to your cause. That means either your message, book, or yourself. Unfortunately many have spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on the scams that the so-called experts play on unsuspecting writers and authors.

Don’t buy before you know the questions to ask! This rule of thumb will save you precious time and money on products and services that do not work. I don’t have all the answers but I know the questions. If books were easy to market and sell then everyone would have at least one. The fact is, marketing and selling books is hard, but if you remain consistent, don’t give up, and always, always ASK QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU BUY ANYTHING, you’ll be better off and have more money in your pocket.

Too many times I hear authors complain about the fact that they created a Facebook page and nothing happened. Well the fact is you have to actively participate before anything will happen. If your page is static and you don’t provide input, nothing will happen. It’s called the Law of Action. The same goes for this website, the fact is readers, those who actually buy books, will not shop a site that is static. You have to participate, you have to add to your profile, you need to create a simple home video or audio and place on the site. The more we create content as Independent authors, the more readers will pay attention. We have thousands of links to our site, but if nothing happens and there is no new content other than my blog, then the links won’t react. This site is your stage, make it happen for yourself, because if no one else does then you’ve reduced your competition. Give an author a stage and who knows what will happen?

The new co-publishing and distribution program is progressing, however, the devil is truly in the details. I wish I had definitive answers to many of your questions but I do not, for that I apologize. My enthusiasm for the program, which has been in the works for quite some time, overwhelmed my common sense and perhaps I was a bit premature in my announcement. The perfect time would have been when the program was complete in every facet, but this was not the case.

My hope is the program will go forward in some form or another, but the delay creates an opportunity. I would like to start a dialogue with every one of you interested in this program. Let’s try and create what we want. It will not fit everyone, the marketplace makes most of the decisions for us, and there are going to be obstacles, but if we start the process perhaps we can come up with solutions, or at least ideas, together.

I welcome your input, concerns, questions, and issues, let’s sort them out here. Post a comment and I’ll answer and we can discuss together. I’ll wait a few days to respond and no more than once per day, but this is your opportunity to tell me what you do and do not want, either way we‘ll be making progress. Thanks, I look forward to your comments.

This new program offers the unpublished writer a choice, and the published author an opportunity. Either way, it should be a personal decision, not an economic one. If you want access to national chain stores, you have to abide by their rules, no exception. This program has been designed to follow their rules and unfortunately there is a cost to the writer/author.

This program is identical to what the major publishers are currently offering unproven writers/authors for some of their imprints. The economics of the business require that new authors publish on a shared cost/revenue basis. The marketplace demands it, and publishers are more than willing to abide. These are the rules of the business and the future for all writers, published or not.

This program is a unique opportunity for Independent Authors to gain national distribution into the traditional bookselling marketplace. Manuscripts and previously published books will be acquired for this new program under a co-publishing model, where each will be published or re-published under another imprint that is acceptable to booksellers in the US.

As with any publishing venture, books must be considered for publication, regardless of whether they were previously in print. Distribution is only possible under a new imprint in the new co-publish program. The acquisition process requires a reading fee, where professional acquisition editors will be screening for quality of writing and editing. Only the very best Independent books will be eligible for the national distribution program.

Once the manuscript or book has been chosen, there is a cost involved with the co-publish program which includes national distribution. This model bypasses the traditional route of agent to publisher and instead is reliant upon the expertise of professional acquisition editors under the guidance of the program director Jerry D. Simmons.

For consideration of your manuscript or book follow these steps.

(1) Submit query letter and synopsis of your manuscript or book to Jerry D. Simmons, via email to jerry@writersreaders.com .

(2) If your manuscript or book is chosen for consideration to the co-publish program, you will be required to pay a reading fee. Once that is complete you will be given mailing instructions for submission. We will not accept eBooks or manuscripts sent electronically. Manuscripts and completed books are required and will not be returned to the author.

(3) Even though your book is chosen for consideration, there is no guarantee it will be selected for the co-publish program and national distribution. Professional acquisitions editors will make the final decisions on which titles will be eligible for the co-publish program, a unanimous decision is required.

(4) If your manuscript or book is accepted you will be given an opportunity to publish under a new imprint with a co-publish program which includes national distribution. There is a cost involved with the production and there are no guarantees after your manuscript or book is published that your title will gain significant access to the market. Distribution is the process of your book gaining access to the market, which includes being sold into booksellers on a national basis. The market dictates the total distribution available to each title.

The purpose of this program is to provide “the best of the best” of Independent books access to the marketplace on a national level. Questions or inquiries should be directed to Jerry via email jerry@writersreaders.com.

Up till now, getting Independently published books distributed into the traditional bookseller market has been elusive. Many companies promise distribution services but fail to adequately deliver on those promises. I've met with a major book distributor interested in finding the “best of the best” of Independently published titles. This is an exciting new entry into the traditional marketplace. This new venture opens the door to a sales channel that up to this point has been blocked. There are still some details to work out, but the agreement has been made and the program will launch very soon. Watch for the announcement!

An important part of marketing is having an objective source read and comment on your book. Book reviews offer the consumer an opinion about your story and your writing. At Nothing Binding we offer a free book review for any author. As we continue to grow, we need more good book reviewers. You don't have to be an author to review one of our books, we welcome writers and readers. In exchange for a free copy we ask that our reviewers promptly read and then write a book review. Authors helping authors with book reviews is but one small part of how we grow our market. You don’t have to be an expert to comment on a book, you just have to be a reader.

As a result of our Blog Talk Radio show today, we are asking all Independent Authors and Publishers to begin a campaign to protest Amazon’s demand that small publishers print books with their company Book Surge or be denied the buy button on their site.

The slogan for this protest is “Anywhere But Amazon.” If you are not contractually bound to sell your book on Amazon we would like for you to consider pulling it’s availability from the site and sending your customers to some other online retailer. If your publisher or printer binds you to offer your book on Amazon, then we ask that you stop being a customer and tell all your friends to follow the slogan “Anywhere But Amazon.”

The Blog Talk Radio show today, hosted by myself and Penny Sansevieri of Author Marketing Experts, included Angela Hoy the publisher of Book Locker and Eric Kampmann a publisher and distributor of Independent books. We discussed the Amazon situation for a full hour and you can listen at the following link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ThePublishingInsiders

Please join us in protesting the Gorilla tactics of Amazon by either pulling your book from the site, or stop being a customer. Our hope is that all customers will consider going “Anywhere But Amazon.”

Publishers are constantly looking for product. They cannot depend on manuscripts to walk in the door. So they read websites, blogs, newspapers, magazines, anything that offers an idea or introduces a writer of interest. From that point they puruse the idea or writer in hopes of turning something as small as a blog into a book. One of the biggest myths is that a New York publisher will never publish a book that was self-published, or printed by a POD company. This is absolutely not true! Publishers don’t care how or when a book was published, if they feel the book has potential to make money, they will publish it. It’s about revenue, not who published first.