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Tools for building better books

The second-worst-looking book I’ve ever seen has the worst title: How to Get Published Free: Best in Publishing & Print on Demand: Plus Marketing Your Book on The Internet by David Rising.

​     It may also be the worst-written book I’ve ever read.

​     David tries to advise authors about self-publishing, but his own book is a great example of what not to do. I read the third edition, published in 2006. This is such garbage that it’s tough to imagine how bad the earlier editions were.

​     It’s like a MAD magazine parody -- a catalog of the worst mistakes a publisher could make.

​     Books like this are a perfect example of why self-published books are regarded with suspicion by pros in the book industry. Even if the author was too ignorant or too stupid to notice the errors, the publisher, Lulu, should never have let it out the door. Lulu's requirements for publication are apparently (1) blood pressure above zero, and (2) a credit card with a sufficient line of credit.

​     CLICK for full review
 

What happens when a marketing expert who's a sloppy writer hires a designer who doesn't know how to design books and an editor who doesn't notice mistakes? They make a bad book. 

​      Michelle Dunn, author of the strangely named ​Mosquito Marketing for Authors​​​​​​​​, knows her subject well. Unfortunately she is a careless writer (or maybe an uncaring writer), and she assembled an unqualified publishing team. It is no surprise that the book they produced is a disaster.

​     This book has 174 pages, but it has more errors than pages. It is so badly written, edited and designed, it can hurt people it is intended to help. Its audience is new authors, and a new author -- especially a self-publishing author -- who uses this book as an example for publishing a book, will produce yet another bad book. There are already thousands of bad books. We don't need more of them.
     There is so much wrong with this book that I could write a book about all that's wrong with it.

​​     ​CLICK for full review 

Unlike some other authors of bad books, Theresa M. Moore is a coherent, experienced and apparently sane writer.
     Her problems are that she is extremely careless, knows less than she thinks she knows, has an unjustified high opinion of her own editing ability, and frequently ignores her own advice.
     Theresa's Principles of Self-Publishing: How to Publish and Market A Book or Ebook On a Shoestring Budget is part of a growing group of books that try to teach writers to self-publish, written by people who are poorly equipped to teach the subject.

     Theresa has apparently had some success writing books in the fantasy/sci-fi genres. She says she has 30 years of experience as a writer, illustrator and publisher. She's a member of the Count Dracula Society and has an AA degree with a major in accounting and a minor in advertising design. Sadly, her experience with vampire fangs, debits and paste-ups do not qualify her to instruct others in book publishing.

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The fifth-worst book I’ve found is Self Publishing Simplified, written by Brent Sampson, the head of self-publishing company Outskirts Press. His ineptitude and misrepresentation have won him a prime place in the Publishing Hall of Shame. This book is particularly pathetic because Brent is a publisher, has a college degree in English and claims to be both an “expert in the field of publishing” and a bestselling author. 
     On his company’s website, Brent urges writers to use an editor and he says, “Errors in your writing cause readers to question your credibility.” I question his. The book has a foreword written by Brent -- which goes against the normal book-publishing rules that any publisher should know. Forewords are not supposed to be written by the author!  Brent should have called it a “preface” or an “introduction” or hired someone else to write a foreword. The book functions as an advertisement for Brent’s company, but it’s filled with embarrassing errors. He even had the wrong name of the author of Roget's Thesaurus. Apparently, no one was willing to tell the boss that he screwed up. Or maybe Brent is such an egomaniac that he saw no need for editing or fact checking.  The silly errors and outright deceptions do not inspire confidence. This book has a $5.95 cover price. That’s five bucks too much. Used copies are on sale for a penny each. That’s a fair price.

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The interior of Turnkey Publishing by Matthew S. Chan is ghastly. It violates almost every rule about book design that I know of, and probably some that I have not learned yet. I could not determine if the book had an editor. If there was one, she or he stopped too soon. There are missing words, misspellings, repetition (even on successive pages!), double hyphens that should be em dashes, bad grammar, misplaced words and other textual errors.

     In the acknowledgment section at the back of the book, Mathew says: "I would like to thank Darlene Swanson for her great typesetting design and layout for the book. I highly recommend her to anyone needing typesetting services for their own book." Darlene told me, "When I received the project from Matthew, I designed it professionally. After that was done, Matthew informed me that he would be taking over to complete the book. It was his idea to do the full justification with no hyphens. I would never design a book that way. The folios on the blank pages were also Matthew's idea. I have been designing books for more that 18 years and I do not put folios on blank pages." That made me feel better about Darlene (but sorry for any business she may lose by being associated with a dreadful book).

     Near the end of the book, in a section about bad reviews, Mathew says: "Sometimes I find it interesting how some people attack and criticize. I sometimes want to say to them, 'If you could do a better job, why don't you?'"  Well, Matthew, many people, including me, have done a better job. This book is inaccurate, inadequate, cynical, misleading, overpriced and ugly.

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What makes a book a stinker?

1. Most stinkers are ugly.
2. Most stinkers are poorly written.
3. Most stinkers violate the rules and customs of book design.
4. Many stinkers are inaccurate.
5. Some stinkers make promises they do not—or cannot—deliver.
6. Some stinkers are padded—including unnecessary information, information that is readily    available elsewhere for free, or too much empty space.
7. Some stinkers are really advertisements—even bad advertisements—masquerading as books.
8. Some stinkers are absurdly overpriced.
9. Some stinker authors either got help from the wrong people or got no help at all.
10. Some stinker authors are extremely careless—or just don’t care about producing good books.
11. Some stinker authors don’t accept the advice they give to others.
12. Some stinker authors know less than they think they know.

Keith Ogorek is the Marketing Senior V.P. of Author Solutions, Inc.  "ASI" is the self-publishing behemoth that has grown by acquiring and combining such former competitors as AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford, Wordclay and Xlibris. It has a Spanish-language division called Palibrio. ASI also operates the self-publishing businesses for traditional publishers Simon & Schuster, Harlequin, Thomas Nelson and Hay House, and has a self-publishing alliance with Writer's Digest magazine. ASI is one company with multiple seemingly competing brands providing similar products at various prices. It's like General Motors. If you bought a Pontiac instead of a Buick or Chevy, GM still made money.

    7 Secrets of Successful Self-Published Authors exists to promote Booktango, an e-book publishing service operated by ASI. As with other books promising "secrets," this book has none.

    Is any of this surprising or new:

  1. Describe your audience.
  2. Believe in your work.
  3. Set a deadline.
  4. Understand your options.
  5. Know the power of social media and have a plan to use it.
  6. Create a marketing plan before publication.
  7. Have a book-launch event.

​It’s smart to study other books and to seek inspiration from successful authors and designers -- but don’t be a copycat. The book on the left has sold millions of copies since 2004. It provides guidance for solving personal and professional problems.

     The Highly Effective Habits of 5 Successful Authors on the right -- which copied the cover design, typefaces and title style of the bestseller -- is a promotional piece from Outskirts Press masquerading as a book.

     There are five five-star reviews for the Outskirts book on Amazon.com. Two were written by Outskirts authors featured in the book, one was written by an Outskirts employee, and one was apparently written by a relative of an Outskirts employee. That seems a bit sleazy -- just like the cover.

CLICK for full review

Therone Shellman is a member of the flawed fraternity of writers who produce one or two bad books and are so self-impressed that they decide that they should teach others to follow in their muddy footsteps. His The Secrets of Self Publishing 2  is dreadful in every way -- from a cover that spells out the title TWICE, to the false promise of "secrets," to really bad writing, no editing and terrible typography. Oh yeah, the book is outrageously overpriced at $9 for 76 pages. The Kindle edition costs $5.99.

    I don't want you to think I'm picking on the author, so I'll present some comments from other readers:

  • "There were multiple grammatical/capitalization/other errors in the pages I viewed...including two in the first sentence....  For such a critical topic as self-publishing, and a book which recommends the importance of professional editing, I'm a bit wary about purchasing this item.... this is the sort of book that gives self-publishers a bad name."
  • "... a prime example of why many people look down on the business of self publishing.... he needs to hire an editor to proofread his work."
  • "... it cannot be taken lightly that there are so many editorial oversights (typos, misspellings, punctuations, etc.) just in the first few pages.... evidence of little or no editing was pure madness, especially for someone who is giving advice on the subject of publishing."

There was one positive review on Amazon.com. Therone paid for the review.

    The book includes a section on negotiating a publishing contract, which probably does not belong in a book about self-publishing. There is one topic that Therone covers that I have not seen elsewhere: selling books on the street, in railroad statons, at bus stops and in nightclubs. Of course it may be that I have not seen venues like these mentioned in other books about publishing because they are simply not good places to sell books.

The ugh-lee cover of Adventures in Self-Publishing by Juliet Dillon Clark is an insult to its readers. I don't care if a book sells for just 99 cents, the author has to have pride in the appearance of her product and respect for her readers.

     The first page of the book starts with Juliet's experience with the editor of a previous book: "When I received the edited version back, I was horrified to discover all the errors." She also says, "You need your book edited and formatted" and "You need to have your manuscript edited. In addition, it should be proofread after it is formatted."

     That sure sounds like Juliet realizes how important editing is, but "Adventures" is apparently unedited. There are abundant problems including bad grammar, bad spelling, bad hyperlinks, improper punctuation, missing words and awkward sentences.

    There are also factual errors such as:

  1. "E-books are distributed to small sites that don’t have the consumer visibilty [sic] that Amazon provides."  The websites of B&N and Apple are not "small."
  2. "Barnes and Noble shuns independent authors." Definitely not true.
  3. "Amazon will stock your book online and order from the printer as sales come in." Books are sold online, but not stocked online. Also, many books that Amazon sells are shipped directly from printer or wholesaler to customer.
  4. "The best part of having your own book is that it can be used as a marketing tool for your business." Most writers probably don't have businesses that can use books as marketing tools. The "best part" varies with the author. Some want to impress friends or change the world. Some just want to tell a story or explain the origin of the universe.

Since this book is so inexpensive, a purchaser won't waste much money -- but will waste time. Juliet has valid information to provide and important experiences to describe. I hope she'll follow her own advice and hire an editor. A professional cover design would be a good investment, too. With some effort, the book could be worth more than 99 cents.


 

How to Self-Publish a Book on Amazon.com by Chris McMullen is another example of disrespect for the reader, coupled with both ignorance and egomania. Chris tells us: "If you can write your own book, you can surely design and make your own cover - and a good one," "I recommend that you make your own book cover" and "You can make a professional cover using Microsoft Word."

     I've looked at a great many book covers, and Chris's is one of the worst I've ever seen. DO NOT follow his advice.

     Sadly, Chis does have some good advice and information inside the book, but it's marred by bad typography and obsolescence.  Chris should spend some money and time to make this a first-class book -- maybe one that could sell for more money -- or kill it.

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