Brenda Mohammed – Author of Over 50 Books
Week 1
Hello Friends,
First of all, I want to thank Maxwanette A. Poetess for giving me space in this Magazine to share with members, articles on Self-Publishing.
I also want to share some brief information about myself.
My name is Brenda Mohammed, and I am a former Bank Manager from Trinidad.
I am a renowned, multi-award winning, and bestselling author and I have self- published 50 books in several genres – memoirs, romance, science fiction, mysteries, psychological thriller, children’s books, Christian books, poetry, self-help, magazines, and anthologies.
I am the Founder of How to Write for Success Literary Network and President CIESART INTERCONTINENTAL – TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO.
Every week I will publish an article on Self-publishing in this magazine.
Today, I will deal with Traditional versus self-publishing.
TRADITIONAL VERSUS SELF-PUBLISHING
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND SELF PUBLISHING?
TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING
• This means that the intellectual property rights in your manuscript are purchased outright by a publishing company (often a large multinational). The best known publishers include Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and others.
• The sale normally takes place via a literary agent, and it can take years to get an agent to show interest in your book. If your book is a masterpiece, and you write a query letter that hooks the agent, you are in luck.
• The publisher will use its corporate contacts to make your book available for sale as widely as possible. That means you can expect your book to be sold via every retailer, notably Amazon, and also to chain bookstores like Barnes & Noble or Waterstones, large supermarkets, etc.
• Your book will appear in print – and quite likely in four separate editions (hardback, paperback, e-book, audio.)
• You stand a chance of being reviewed in newspapers.
• You would normally expect to receive an advance.
• If your sales are such that your advance is lower than your book sales, you will also receive royalties – though many authors don’t see royalties at all.
• Your book belongs to the publisher. If you want it back – there will be problems. If you don’t like their marketing – that’s just tough. If you change your mind and want to self-publish, you’ll either need to buy the rights back or just write a new book.
In the final analysis, you are selling your work to a corporation, and that corporation will go about exploiting those rights. You’ve sold the book, and you’ve lost control. That’s not a bad thing necessarily, but you need to understand the basic nature of the transaction.
SELF-PUBLISHING is a totally different proposition.
Self-publishing means you never sell rights to the book. It’s yours.
It also means there’s no advance in self-publishing. You’ll need to make some investments upfront. You may purchase a book cover, and hire an editor, and that will cost you a small sum.
• You can self-publish e-books, paperback books, and hardcover. Your paperback and hardcover can be sold in physical bookstores on a national and international basis. My self-published books are sold on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, Kobo, Apple, Scribd, UBuy, Walmart, Powell’s, and Libraries.
* You can get published in your local newspapers.
* You can win book awards.
You can attain bestseller status on Amazon.
• You will be responsible for everything: creating your product, and marketing it.
Self-publishing is a means for independent authors to reach a worldwide audience without the support of a corporate publisher. Amazon and Draft 2 Digital created that opportunity, and it’s astonishing and wonderful.
So which route do you choose? Which option do you take?
In my next article we will explore the Benefits of Self- Publishing.
copyright@Brenda Mohammed
Week 2
BENEFITS OF SELF- PUBLISHING
Dear Friends,
As I promised, this week I will deal with the benefits of self-publishing.
I have self-published 50 books to date, and if I tell you it was easy to do so, I would not be telling the truth.
With each book there were new challenges, but I learned something each time.
What I can tell you, is when you learn to publish your own books, you not only save a lot of money, but you become self-sufficient.
The benefit of self-publishing is, there are no literary agents or publishers standing in your way. This allows for diversity to flourish.
There are no contracts to sign and you are free to make changes to your book at any time, without paying fees.
Not only are the barriers to entry lower, but the royalties are higher. When you work with a traditional publisher, they have to take their cut. By self-publishing your own book, you can earn more for each book that you sell.
When you self-publish, you own your work and have complete control over the publishing process. For a lot of authors who have poured their hearts and souls into writing a book, it’s very important for them to have power to make decisions throughout the publishing process.
As technology has improved, self-published authors now have access to high-quality printing and book distribution networks similar to traditionally published authors. Your self-published book will look like the other books on the pages of Amazon.
If you are considering publishing a book of poetry or even a fiction novel, let us look at the steps to get your book in front of readers.
1. Preparing a Manuscript
2. Choosing a Book Title
3. Editing your Manuscript
4. Importance of a Book Cover
5 Crafting an Effective Author Bio
6. Writing a book description.
7. What is Meta Data?
8. Copyright your Work
9. Pricing your Book
10. Create an account on Amazon KDP
11. Publishing on Amazon.
12. The Publishing Process
13. Marketing and Distribution
14. Book Launch
15. Author Events
16. Publishing on Draft 2 Digital
17. Recommended Reading
These steps may seem difficult at first glance.
In the following weeks, I will go into detail to explain each one.
Meanwhile, if you are serious about learning to publish like a pro, get my books on Amazon.
SELF PUBLISHING TIPS https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B4BJRWLD
HOW TO WRITE FOR SUCCESS – Volume I
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076Z3882D
HOW TO WRITE FOR SUCCESS – Volume 2
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C2JSSN6
Brenda Mohammed
Best-selling and multi-award winning author of 50 books.
Founder of How to Write for Success Literary Network.
President – UHE – Trinidad and Tobago
President – CIESART – Trinidad and Tobago
Week 3
PREPARING YOUR MANUSCRIPT
If you are publishing a poetry book, to prepare your Manuscript, compile all of your poems in a Word Document with one poem on each page. Choose a suitable font.
I use Arial.
Some poems may be longer and may take more than one page, but that is okay.
You can also use a short quote above each poem, and an image for each poem. To insert images, make sure they are saved on your computer and use the Insert button for pictures in Microsoft word. To resize the image to fit the page, use the Format button.
Make sure that your Word document is formatted exactly the way you want.
Check your page breaks, line and paragraph breaks, title page, and perhaps chapter titles if you have them. These might be your poem titles if it is a poetry book.
If you are using Microsoft Word, follow all instructions at the top for Design, Layout, References, Table of Contents, etc.
In Design, you will select a theme, font, spacing, etc.
With respect to Layout, here is where you choose the book size, margins, and indentations.
In References, you select Table of Contents. Readers love a clickable Table of Contents in the EBook Format.
To design the Table of Contents is a bit tricky, but it is worth your reputation as a reputable writer, to provide one for your readers. Some writers omit this important feature from their eBooks and lose future sales.
Highlight the headings one by one. If it is a poetry book, the headings will be Poem titles.
Right-click on Heading 1 at the top. Click on Modify. Right-click again on Update Heading 1 to match the selection.
After you have done that for all Headings, go to the first page where you want to insert the table, click on Reference, and then Table of Contents.
Your clickable table will appear.
Page numbers will not work with an eBook, so do not insert them.
You should insert page numbers in the Print book.
Do not include anything in either the headers or footers.
Save your document in .docx format.
That is your Manuscript.
For any other type of book, follow the same procedure.
When you publish on Amazon, use Amazon Kindle Create. You can download the App for free.
With Amazon Kindle Create you can highlight your headings, sub-titles, and resize and reposition images too. The result will be a beautiful eBook that your readers will love.
To publish a paperback book, insert the page numbers and convert your manuscript into a PDF, ensuring that all Chapters start on a new page.
There are many videos on YouTube that show you how to publish EBooks and Paperback books on Amazon, step by step.
In another lesson, I will give you links to videos.
Brenda Mohammed
Best-selling and multi-award-winning author of 50 books.
Founder of How to Write for Success Literary Network.
President – UHE – Trinidad and Tobago
President – CIESART – Trinidad and Tobago
HAPPY NEW YEAR – 2023!
CRAFTING AN EFFECTIVE AUTHOR BIO
If you’re a writer with few publication credits, or none at all, crafting a compelling bio can be challenging. Don’t worry. You do not need stellar credits to have a great bio.
A BIOGRAPHY MUST BE WRITTEN IN THE THIRD PERSON.
The most effective online bios are both professional and concise. Here’s how to write a short bio that suits your website or brand:
01. Introduce yourself
Begin your bio by stating your first, last name, and your country. If you’re writing in the third person, these should be the first two words of the paragraph. This makes your name easy for your audience to identify and remember.
02. State your company or brand name
Think about whether you want your bio to represent yourself on a personal level, or whether you’d like it to come across as more professional. If you have a personal brand or business – for example, a blog, freelance business or ecommerce site – be sure to mention your brand name at the beginning of your bio. Don’t be afraid if the name sounds simple or redundant. It’s perfectly fine, for instance, to say Mary Smith of Trinidad and Tobago is the founder and CEO of Smith Digital.
Likewise, feel free to mention the name of another company or brand that you work for if you’d like to associate it with your professional accomplishments – e.g., Mary Smith of Trinidad and Tobago is a consultant at Google and the founder and CEO of Smith Digital.
03. Explain your professional role
Next, briefly explain your current position. This is relevant whether you’re the founder of a company, a high-level specialist or a beginner in your field, and it can be similar to the description you have on your resume. Your website visitors won’t necessarily know what your job involves, so elaborating on your primary responsibilities helps paint a picture of who you are and what you have to offer.
Present yourself in a polite, and professional way.
Don’t pad your bio with irrelevant info.
Most editors and readers love the opportunity to discover new writers with unique voices. It does not matter how many publications you have, as long as your writing is strong. Your bio can be as short as a few sentences that mention the country you live in and your profession.
Establish expertise. You will want your bio to influence people to read your work. If the main character in your book has a trait or hobby that you happen to share, or the story takes place in a setting you know like the back of your hand, your expertise will lend your work authenticity. For example, if you write a book that takes place in a bank, it would be a good idea to mention that you’ve worked in a bank for years.
Show that you take your writing seriously. Even though you may not have published any books before, you can show your dedication to writing by mentioning popular writing groups or organizations of which you’re a member.
Keep it short, sweet, and to the point. No one wants to read a long-winded version of your life story. Avoid clichés like “It’s always been my dream to be a writer” or “I’ve been writing since I was three years old.”
Brenda Mohammed
BIO:
Brenda Mohammed, a former Bank Manager from Trinidad, is a renowned, multi-award winning, and bestselling author who has published 53 books. Her genres are memoirs, romance, science fiction, mysteries, psychological thriller, children’s books, Christian books, poetry, self-help, magazines, and anthologies.
She is Founder of the How to Write for Success Literary Network and is President CIESART INTERCONTINENTAL – TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO,
Her superb writing skills won her several literary awards in the USA, Peru, Kazakhstan, Seychelles, Nigeria, India, Romania, Argentina, Morocco, Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Germany, Austria, Syria, Portugal, Czech Republic, and the UK.