But the question is, does an ebook need an ISBN?

I’ve been doing some reading and thinking on this, and my thought (at this current stage of ebook technology) is no.

• From my experience of sourcing, ordering and receiving books for The Bodhi Tree, I’m more than aware that ISBNs are vital to the world of bookstores and distributors. There is no way to guarantee that any book we order in is the correct one without knowing the ISBN
• As a self-publisher I know that an ISBN is vital when dealing with a distributor with regards to ordering and payments.

However, none of this seems relevant to ebooks.

• Book retailers don’t need them because they don’t order them in.
• Customers will read the promotional material for a book they want online and then just click the BUY button; an ISBN doesn’t even come into the decision.
• Distributors (or in this case online stores) use software that automatically tells them how many books written by whoever have been sold; there is very little need for human interaction.

You can buy ISBNs for ebooks and, in fact, Smashwords will give you a complimentary one when you list your book with them, but as yet I can see no genuine reason for buying one. Of course, that could well change (the need for them, not my logic). The business of ebooks is still so young who knows where it will have progressed to next year.

However, despite all the above, my thought at the moment is to list my ebooks both with Amazon and Smashwords so the subject is really moot – still one I thought important to cover anyway.

So, what are your thoughts on ISBNs and ebooks?

Do you agree?

Do you have thoughts on why it might be important for ebooks to have their own number?

AND, just so you know, there will be prizes.

The ebook I’m currently working on is an updated version of my workbook ‘Effective Goal Setting for Writers’. It’s full of practical information, personal anecdotes and exercises to take a person step-by-step through the process of defining, setting and keeping their writing goals. If you’ve read (or flicked through) my ‘I Want to Write, but know where to start’ book, it’s like that but focused entirely on goal setting for writers.

Effective Goal Setting for Writers worked well for a workbook title, but it seems to lack the necessary shininess and allure for book format.

It’s a perfect sub-title, but a boring title.

• I want something catchy, fun, enticing, may be even classy and intelligent as well if possible.
• I want something that will make the people who hate goal setting, pick up the book and think twice before they put it down (so to speak).
• I want something that tells the reader this won’t be just another dry book on what they should do.
• I want a title that says this book makes goal setting an easy, fun and positive experience.

So what do you think, are you up for some playing with words?

The competition closes in two weeks on Sunday 19th Feb.

To suggest a title simply write it in as comment on this blog post. I’ll be giving feedback and comments over the weeks, discussion is welcome and you can put forward as many ideas as you have (providing they fit, or come close to, the above outline).

It will be like online brainstorming.

I’ll even put some ideas forward too, so you can tell me what you think.

So, what about it? Any thoughts?

Over the past few months I’ve been reading up on all aspects of ebooks. Over the time I’ve found some excellent resources (I’ve also found some decidedly mediocre ones too), yet still there are more books to read, videos and podcasts to watch, and audios to listen to. But eventually there comes a time when you have to say enough is enough, and just assume you know enough (at least at the moment) because it doesn’t matter how much you know of a topic if you don’t finish the writing of it.

What I’ve found from all my research in to ebook success is simple really:

1. Write a book (popular fiction is the most successful).
2. Start building a following on Facebook, Twitter and blogs.
3. Convert your book and sell it on Amazon and/or Smashwords for a price between 99c and $4.99.
4. Promote it through genuine posts on Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

How to go about completing these four steps varies only slightly from one piece of information I‘ve read to the next. In most cases the variations are caused by personal choice, available time and focus on the final outcome. It’s all too true that many people manage the first and third steps of this process but go no further thinking their books will sell on their own. This rarely happens, you have to promote, especially if you want to make sales that pay for more than the occasional coffee.

Of course, this is a simplified list of steps but by breaking down the journey into smaller chunks not only does it make things easier, but it can also work wonders for keeping you on track (and not distracted by research).

Tips to avoid over-researching

• Restrict yourself a set amount of time to research, either a certain amount of time before you start your project or a weekly amount.
• Set yourself a deadline for finishing your draft copies.
• Accept that sometimes you can start writing without knowing all the information.
• Know that too much researching can delay your writing, and recognise if it happens to you.
• Limit the amount of sources you study to a handful of reliable sources.

Just for the record, I’m in the second final edit of my ebook and have started to build my following (hopefully).

For me, I’ve been seriously gearing up to Ebook publishing for the best part of a year (finishing other projects, researching, defining my niche, planning books, and so on). I’ve got many things in place; the manuscript of my first book is going through final edits, I’ve got a website and blog to back up the books, I understand ebook formatting (almost), and in fact, everything is ready to go. So what’s stopping me, why is this now all too hard? Why has the ground slipped from my feet? Because I can’t decide on a cover design.

How crazy is that? To decide reaching ebook and online success is too hard purely because I can’t picture a book cover. Don’t get me wrong, a book cover is one of the most important parts of a book, but it is only one step in the process. But this is what The Dip is, and as in all things, if you know what you are facing you can overcome it. The other bonus of recognising The Dip is knowing that this is the point where many of the competition drop out, leaving more space for you. In the world of creating ebooks it might not be creating a cover that stops everyone – it might be doing the final re-write, it might be understanding ebook conversion, deciding who to sell through, or organising the tax issues so that you can sell in America. But sooner or later almost everybody slides into their Dip.

In this Journey I know there are going to be many aspects that will make me scream and sulk, but what kind of challenge would it be if I could do everything in an afternoon? None what so ever, and every so often we need to push against the limits of our abilities. Sitting still gets us nowhere.

Besides, the wonder of the internet is that there are many people who are a few steps ahead of us and who have been generous enough to share what they have learnt.

My Solution to the Dip

So if you find yourself slipping into The Dip:

1. First recognise it for what it is, just a natural part of the journey.
2. Go make yourself a drink and define what it is that’s really stopping you. Chances are it’s not really what you think it is. (Would you believe that I think my struggle with the cover really comes down to needing a haircut, how illogical is that?)
3. Once you know what’s really holding you up, it should be easy to list a simple step-by-step plan to get you out of The Dip.

My Dip Explained

If you want to understand the ‘Can’t do the cover because I need a haircut’ thing, here goes. My ebook is a ‘How-to’, many ‘how-to’s have a photo of the writer on the cover. I don’t know if I want my pic on the cover to be honest, but how will I know if I don’t play around with the designs? To do that, though, I need a recent, decent photo, which I can’t take now because the last time I went to the hairdressers I was unclear on what I wanted so I ended up with something different. It’s not a bad cut, I emphasise, just not my favourite one. Now I understand that in the scheme of things using a pic of me as is, is not a bad thing, but it would be nice for the cover photo to be current for more than 6 weeks.

Hence, it’s not the cover that’s causing The Dip, it’s me not getting my lazy whotsit out of the chair and going to the hairdressers. All I have to do is make an appointment, go to the appointment, explain myself clearly to the hairdresser, organise the taking of a picture, have fun researching and playing with covers and the whole thing is done. Now I ask you how crazy would it be to miss out on success for something so easily fixed.

Okay, you’ve talked me into it, I’m off to phone the hairdressers now.

Turns out there was more than one programme that didn’t like the upgrading I was trying to do at the weekend. Which, as if to justify my previously stated thoughts on upgrading, stopped the comment section from working. But, of course, I didn’t know because I only post comments in response to your comments, and if I don’t get the comments I don’t have anything to reply to. All Catch 22 really.

So, thank you to the ladies who went to the trouble of posting me a message on Facebook, and thank you for your patience. Hopefully, it’s all fixed now.

Picking a good name

These are some of the thoughts that have been lingering at the back of my mind this week. Names need to be catchy and clear. Like book titles, they need to explain and impact quickly and succinctly. They need to be easy to remember and easy to spell.

The phrase as it stands works well as a sub-title, but as soon as I tried shortening it there were other names, books and titles that it would be competing against. The well-known series of books and workshops by Brandon Bays, called The Journey, for example.

And finally …

It took me a while (and a few dud choices), but thanks to my critiquing group and ever-supportive Clare, the Journey now has a new, official name: EbookOdyssey. What do you think? Catchy? Clear?

Another defining aspect of picking the name was that the .com domain was still available. Everything created these days really needs a website to promote it, or at the very least one static webpage, but this is especially true of anything internet-based. I bought the domain name of ElizabethBezant many many years ago, so as to avoid anyone buying it first.

A gentle reminder: Don’t forget to buy the domain name for your book, your name, your book series or whatever else you have in mind to create and consider important.

Don’t leave it to the last minute and hope it will still be there, because believe me it’s frustrating to come up with the perfect name for your creation and then find you have to adapt the domain name because somebody has already bought the ideal one.

Domains are bought by the year, so there’s always a chance that if it’s been bought it may lapse, but that never seems to happen when you want it to. Of course, if the .com has been sold, you may be able to get the .com.au or the .net, but .com is without doubt the best (because it’s what most people are used to typing). Other suffixes available can also have different requirements; .org, for example, is only for organisations. So plan early.

TODAY’S STEP

1) Start contemplating the ideal domain name(s) for your blog or website, because if you’re going to take this seriously you’ll need one, if not both. Decide also if it’s worth getting the domain name of your name (or writing name).

2) Check out their availability. I usually visit GoDaddy, the site is easy to use and the domains are reasonably priced. Here’s the link if you want to have check out your options now.

If you decided to buy your domain names while you’re there, don’t feel you have to buy hosting or any other products at the moment. You may need them, you may not, but until you know exactly what you’re doing, buying the domain name is usually sufficient.

I’d always thought it would be great to have one on this site, but especially so now for those who are taking the steps of this Journey with me. After all, there’s absolutely no harm in making things a little easier on yourself, and there’s no denying that receiving regular updates will keep you motivated, and save you from being swamped with too many things to do because you got behind in your blog reading.

Sadly, though I didn’t quite get the RSS button sorted out, but I do have an equally good alternative. Feed My Inbox emails blog posts direct to your Inbox. This is a service they do free, although it costs if you choose to follow more than five blogs, but even that seems quite reasonable in this busy day and age.

Feed My Box was recommended to me by a trusted friend, and I gain nothing by promoting it – except the knowledge that it will make your life and Journey to Ebook and Online Success easier.

So, can you guess the step for today?

TODAY’S STEP
Visit Feed My Inbox, enter www.elizabethbezant.com in the ‘Web or Feed URL’ box and your email address in the box underneath.

Once you have, I’d love to know what you think of the service.

If you don’t include a picture as part of your profile the site will simply put up a generic one in the space where one would go – Facebook put up a uniform silhouette, Twitter use an egg, and so on.

While it may not be the first thing you do when creating an account on these sites, it’s certainly something you should look in to early on.

Why?

Because we want to know what you look like, of course. Don’t you feel more confident talking to a person when you know what they look like? I’m not talking here about people you’ve known for a lifetime, but those you’ve only just met online. Or how about when you are trying to find people you want to talk to who you met once at a meeting, workshop or conference – wouldn’t a photo make them easier to identify from the many with the same name?

But it’s more than that, when you have such little time and space to create an impact and to grab attention, a picture has more impact than words.

***

PROFILE PICTURE TIPS

Using a picture of yourself

I can almost see some people cringing as I write this. As you probably know by now, I respect everybody’s personal choice, but honestly, don’t you prefer conversing with somebody when you have at least a vague idea of what they look like? In a world where the majority of us are primarily visual (I believe) it stands to reason that we are going to forge stronger, more genuine, honest relationships quicker if we know what each of us looks like. Even if all we can see the eyes, the side of the head or a person peering out from behind a tree. To those who are still cringing – at least think about the logic and what you hope to achieve from being online, please. (By the way, I’m still undecided about using the cover of your book as your pic long-term – great for promoting, bad for above reasons. Love to know your thoughts.)

Use a recent photo

I’m writing this, looking at the header and promo pics on Writing to Inspire and this blog – I know! I’m planning to update them soon. (I accept that, ‘It’s the hairstyle that gives me away, not the wrinkles,’ is no longer true.) A photo taken within the last 10 years is good, but within the last 12 months is better – again we are talking about honest relationships here.

It doesn’t have to be a professional shot

Although a good shot is worth the time it takes. Then again, don’t take that to mean it needs to be a traditional pose, casual works. Something that reflects your business, character and outlook on the world is always interesting, just avoid anything that’s too controversial and depicts you in a way that isn’t professional.

The size of your photo, both in memory and image

Most websites will let you know the maximum size your photo can be – if your picture is larger than this it won’t be uploaded on to their site. If your photo is too larger consider: Cropping it, making the dpi (dots per inch) less, saving it for web, or saving it as a .jpg. All these can help, and it’s probably worth mentioning here that 72dpi (last time I checked) was the recommended size for fast loading pictures on the web.

Don’t change it too often

This relates back to the ‘catching attention’ comment. If you change your picture every other week your followers won’t see your photo and automatically (and subconsciously) know the words beside it are yours. The only real reason why you would change a quality, professional is that it is no longer current.

***

If you happen to look at my profile photo, you’ll notice it’s a cropped picture of my ‘I Want to Write, but don’t know where to start’. It’s not my ideal photo, but it’s okay, and certainly more seasonal than the Christmas one it replaced. However as soon as my hair’s grown a little and I’ve been to the hairdressers, I hope to get a few good close-up shots done to pick from.

TODAY’S STEP

Organise and create a quality profile picture.

For a while now I’ve been getting messages from WordPress (the software I use for my blog) saying that I need to update to the latest version. So, after avoiding the task for months (because whenever you upgrade anything there always seems to be a hiccup) like a good blogger, I upgraded. Only once I had updated I then got a message saying that to make it the software work I had to update another piece of software. But when I went to do this I discovered the company I host my blog with haven’t updated their site to run that version!

I believe it was at this point I was unable to access my blog, and where I started to panic.

Thankfully, though, I had backed-up everything blog-related before I started, and after an hour of back-tracking my blog was up and running again. This is why I hate (grumble, mumble) updating.

Still, it has to be done to keep up with the times – I know this. So do my family (they also know my dislike of updating), so were generous with their time and patience – hence the fact that I am able to post this blog.


So my lesson to share from that:

1. Always, always back-up your work, especially if you are up-grading something.
2. WordPress.org is great for blogging if you know more than a little bit about the technical stuff and code that goes on behind your site, but if you don’t …  There are many simpler blogs you can create (including WordPress.com – don’t get the two confused). I hope to cover more about blog creation in future posts, just in case you were wondering.

Back to the goal setting

Thankfully, despite the ‘blog-update distraction’ I managed to put some time into what I want from this year. And, I’m pleased to say that, in comparison to a few years in the past, this year it wasn’t too hard. In fact, it was more about defining what I want to focus on, rather than setting goals, which has always been the way for me. Writing just offers too many opportunities, sometimes it’s hard not to get distracted by them. So what am I doing? Along with all the regular critiquing, online courses and coaching I do, this year will be focussing entirely on ebook publication, success and promotion of my journey. Now I have a plan, I’m on-course.


So how did your goal setting go? What do you want your writing to achieve this year?

What do you want to achieve from this journey? Let me know so that I can do my best to make sure it’s included.

It was this book, along with a couple of others, that convinced me I was capable and that it was worth the effort, to progress in to Ebooks.

If you’re a total novice at how social media  (Facebook and Twitter) work, there maybe a few aspects that you’ll need to read twice, but it’s an easy book to read. His concept for success is so straight-forward, you’ll wonder why we’re not all best-sellers.

Anyway, it’s worth a look. Even if you’re only half considering creating Ebooks, it’s worth buying. The links are the Book of the Month page (along with my review) if you should agree with me.

Have a great weekend.

Don’t forget that goal setting.