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Run Our Company Poll: Do you want a new Book Translation option?

We need help with something, and as we’ve did last year, we’re turning to our valued family of published (and soon-to-be-published authors).

If we get enough interest, we are considering adding a new Book Translation option to our already expansive suite of writing, self-publishing, and book marketing services.

This option would allow participating authors to work with a specialist on translating their book into another language. This would allow you to tap into global markets in countries such as Spain, France, Italy, etc.

Help us determine if this is an option you would like added to the Outskirts Press list of writing services by answering this quick poll:

Thanks in advance for your participation.

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Posted by Elise L. Connors on April 5, 2012 in Run Our Company, Survey Poll

Tags: book marketing, book translation, self-publishing

Self-Publishing Book Spotlight: Snow Day by Pamela Greenhalgh Hamilton

02 Apr

Self-publishing a book is an exciting undertaking. Because we understand the dedication that is required to write a quality book, we like to feature our top authors each week so that you can get to know a little bit more about them and their book. This week, we are featuring Pamela Greenhalgh Hamilton’s Snow Day.

In her latest book, self-publishing Outskirts Press author, Pamela Greenhalgh Hamilton, tells of the joy of a snow day spent with spirited and loving grandparents and the warmth of a close family and activities that do not involve computers, video games or any other high-tech gadgets.

It had snowed all night and Tessa, Jake and Molly had slipped on their winter coats over their PJ’s so their mother could drive them to their grandparents for the day. Their young-at-heart grandma and grandpa spend the morning teaching them how to catch snowflakes on their tongues, make snow angels and pack a mean snowball. Afterward it’s an afternoon of baking sugar cookies, brewing warm cocoa and lighting a cozy fire.

“A light snow storm in early December inspired the story,” Hamilton recalls. “Little did I know that the storm was a precursor for the winter to come. The Shenandoah Valley had record snowfall and the area kids got lots of snow days.”

That snow storm reminded Hamilton of many of her activities as a child growing up in a snowy Massachusetts and the snowmen her father would help her build in their back yard. Those memories of close times with family – before the days of Mario Karts and tiny digital screens — inspired Snow Day and set the tone for the adventures Tessa, Jake and Molly have with their grandparents.

Although Snow Day is Hamilton’s first picture book, she is no stranger to the worlds of writing and journalism. Her fiction and nonfiction has been published in Hopscotch, the South Coast Insider, the Bristol County Baby Journal as well as other regional and national publications.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Pamela Greenhalgh Hamilton followed her childhood dream to become a writer when she swapped her career as an elementary school teacher for one as a journalist and public relations specialist. A recipient of recognition by the New England Press Association and the Council for Advancement in Secondary Education, her articles and fiction have appeared in regional and national publications. Originally from Massachusetts, Pamela now lives in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley with her husband Bate and three cats. Snow Day is her first picture book.

For more information or to contact the author, visit www.outskirtspress.com/pamelaghamilton.

This author purchased the Book Blast package, saving 25% on 5 powerful marketing services to blast the book into the stratosphere! The Book Blast package includes the following options: Custom Press Release, PR Publicist Campaign, Book Review Submission Service, Book Video (shown above) and Personal Marketing Assistant. Outskirts Press authors can easily and conveniently add this package at any time from the Marketing Options screen of the Publishing Center.

Are you self publishing a book and looking to receive
marketing support and services like this?

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Posted by Elise L. Connors on April 2, 2012 in Book Spotlight, Uncategorized

Tags: outskirts press, Pamela Greenhalgh Hamilton, self-publishing, Snow Day

Top 10 Book Marketing Options for February 2012

29 Mar

Outskirts Press is an industry leader in providing post-publication support, products, and services to its growing family of published authors. Because we know how confusing it can be to pick the right marketing solution for your book, we publish our list of Top 10 Book Marketing Options each month to help you prioritize your book marketing efforts.

The top-ranking options are determined by how many self-published authors sign up for them. Many of these products and services are even available to authors who did not publish with Outskirts Press. Visit our Marketing Solutions page to view the growing list of available book marketing options.

These are the marketing products and services determined to be most popular by our authors for February 2012 — listed below in alphabetical order:

Amazon-branded featured book-of-the-week This option helps you to get your book featured in an email sent directly to over 6,000 of our published writers. The book is also featured exclusively in a posting on our Outskirts Press blog as the featured Book-of-the-Week with an call-to-action Amazon order page.
Amazon Extreme Package This is a package deal that lets you save 25% on three amazing marketing tactics centered around Amazon: The Amazon Kindle Edition, Search Inside the Book, and the Keyword Search Submission Service. Plus a free copy of the Amazon best selling book, Sell Your Book on Amazon.
Amazon Kindle Edition The Amazon Kindle is a revolutionary wireless reading device that allows its owners to instantly download books and newspapers. This is the new way that people are buying books. However, only books that have been submitted to the Amazon Kindle via the required process and in the required format are available for Kindle readers to purchase and enjoy.
Amazon Search Inside the Book This service allows your potential buyer to browse your book online just as they would in a “traditional” bookstore. This alleviates a lot of the the anxiety associated with purchasing books online.
Author Platform Set-up Through Social Media New authors have to establish a solid platform for marketing their book. One of the biggest growing markets: social media for writers. Why? Because social media can sell books. It’s been proven. The key is – you have to know how to get in touch with the people who will buy from you and talk to them! Not sure where to start? The Author Platform Set-up Option can help.
Barnes & Noble NOOK Edition This option will allow you to join 2 MILLION other books at Barnes & Noble NOOK store, showcasing your books in an untapped, and growing market of readers.
Barnes & Noble See Inside This option will allow you to turn Barnes&Noble browsers into buyers by allowing online shoppers to view select pages of your book digitally from the BN.com website.
Book Blast This package includes five of our most popular (and most effective) marketing services, making for very well-rounded book marketing solution. Every Book Blast comes with: a Custom Press Release, PR Publicist Campaign, Book Review Submission Service, Book Video Trailer, and 5 hours with a Personal Marketing Assistant for one price.
Book Review Submission Service Securing positive book reviews is the first step toward building word-of-mouth buzz for your book. Don’t have the time to send your own? We can help take care of all of the “grunt” work for you.
Personal Marketing Assistant With this option, you can get help on developing a marketing plan, establishing your author platform, book signings as well as assistance with marketing campaigns lead follow-up.

Outskirts Press authors who are interested in any of these options can find further details and ordering information by clicking on the name (or image) of the option above. Information about either of these solutions can be found on the Marketing Options page of your Publishing Center. Authors who published elsewhere can visit our Marketing Solutions page to get more information about any of the marketing options available to order.

Is it time to get published and start receiving book marketing services like this?

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Posted by Outskirts Press on March 29, 2012 in Marketing Options, Top 10

Tags: self-publishing

Self-Publishing Authors Can Market Themselves Using Custom Article Writing

26 Mar

One of the proven ways to market yourself and your book on the Internet is to write and distribute related articles that demonstarte your expertise in your subject matter. Even if your article does not blatantly promote your book, your “About the Author” byline section does, including a link to your webpage. This is also good for Search Engine Optimization for your webpage.

If you’re having a hard time making time to write articles to promote you and your book (you are a busy author after all), Outskirts Press can help. Count on one of our professional ghostwriters to compose your article on your behalf. This option is for one article but the more different articles you “write” the most recognized you will become, so you can order this option multiple times if you want.

You choose the topic
We write the article
You review/edit and approve it
We distribute it for you

It doesn’t get any easier than that!

What type of article might you want?

It depends upon what type of book you have written (after all, you want it to be related). Here are some possibilities:

A romance novelist may select an article topic such as “Top Ten Relationship Exercises for Couples”
A children’s book author may suggest an article written about “How to Be a Nurturing Parent”
A bestselling author of a number of books might choose “5 Steps to Self Publishing Success”

You choose the topic, provide any background information you have available, and we’ll write the 700-1000 word article for you.

Then we distribute it throughout the Internet where bloggers, RSS feeds, XML feeds, article archives, forums, and other websites can “pick it up” for distribution.

Many article websites provide “RSS feeds” for webmasters, bloggers, and newsletter publishers who are looking for content on specific topics. Your article will be blasted to these channels and you may start to see your Expert Article appearing all around the Internet.

We’ll even show you how to see up an electronic “clipping service” so you will get notified by email when your Expert Article is published.

Here’s an example of where “5 Steps to Self Publishing Success” by best-selling author Gang Chen was republished, exposing Gang’s book to all the readers of this website.

Ready to get started? Let’s talk...

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Posted by Outskirts Press on March 26, 2012 in Marketing Options

Tags: ghostwriting, outskirts press, self-publishing

Self-Publishing Authors Can Reach 30,000 Readers of Boston Review with Co-op Ad

21 Mar

Are you looking to reach the growing intellectual market of 30,000 readers all while keeping your advertising costs at a minimum?

Boston Review is a prestigious magazine that describes itself as “committed to public reason and literary imagination.” It is a magazine of ideas and it covers a lot of ground — book reviews, poetry, fiction, film, criticism and politics — with five important premises tying it all together editorially: Democracy depends on public discussion; Sometimes understanding means going deep; Vast inequalities are unjust; The human imagination breaks free from neat political categories; Powerful images are worth more than piles of words.

By putting politics and poetry on the same page, Boston Review anticipates a world that is at once more democratic and more imaginative than our own. They take their designation as a magazine of political, cultural, and literary ideas seriously, and the intellectual range of their audience distinguishes them from any political journal or literary quarterly. So too does their seriousness of purpose set them apart from other general-interest magazines. They therefore offer the perfect audience for authors of thoughtful new fiction and nonfiction books.

With this co-op marketing option each full-color ad for an author’s book in Boston Review occupies a 2” by 2.5” space that includes a full color image of the book’s cover, an abbreviated synopsis, the ISBN, its retail price and all necessary retail and wholesale ordering information. The full page ad includes eleven other Outskirts Press titles.

Boston Review is published six times a year and reservations for Outskirts Press co-op ads are taken on a first come, first served basis. Act quickly! Space is limited for the upcoming Outskirts Press ad in this popular magazine. For more information or to reserve your space now, visit http://outskirtspress.com/p/bostoncoop.

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Posted by Elise L. Connors on March 21, 2012 in self publishing news

Tags: Boston Review, Co-op Ad, outskirts press, self-publishing

Top 10 Best-Selling Books in Self-Publishing for February 2012

20 Mar

Outskirts Press, the fastest-growing full-service self-publishing and book marketing company, today announced its top ten best-selling titles for February 2012 according to combined data from Ingram Book Wholesalers and Outskirts Press Direct via http://outskirtspress.com/bookstore. These authors have likely created a solid book promotion strategy and put it into motion either by themselves or with the help of a Personal Marketing Assistant.

In alphabetical order, the top ten best-selling books in self publishing during the month of February 2012 were:

Congratulations to our best-selling authors for the month of February 2012!

How can you get your book on the bestseller list? While we can’t make any guarantees on sales success, many of our most successful authors invest time and money in marketing themselves and their book. Authors who are needing a bit of a marketing boost often turn to a Personal Marketing Assistant for help.

All of these books (and other Outskirts Press titles) are available from all major online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powells, Books A Million, and others, plus conveniently from the Outskirts Press Direct bookstore at http://outskirtspress.com/bookstore for discounts ranging from 10% – 55%.

Are you ready to put a book promotion strategy in place for your self-published book?

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Posted by Elise L. Connors on March 20, 2012 in Bestseller Spotlight, Top 10

Tags: best selling books, outskirts press, self-publishing

The 2012 Bologna Children’s Book Fair Has Begun!

19 Mar

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is taking place this week. Bologna is the world’s leading book fair focusing solely on children’s publishing with a focus on the sale of rights and international co-productions. The following Outskirts Press titles can be found on exhibit at this year’s event:

If you are a published Children’s book author with Outskirts Press and interested in exhibiting your book with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair next year, you can register for this event conveniently from your author’s center Marketing Options screen. Space is limited and filled on a first-come, first served basis. Due to the specific requirements of Bologna, this event is not a part of our Global Book Tour package and must be registered for separately if you are interested.

Ready to publish your children’s book? Let’s talk…

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Posted by Outskirts Press on March 19, 2012 in Book Fairs, Uncategorized

Tags: bologna book fair, outskirts press, self-publishing

Outskirts Press Announces Winner of Barnes & Noble NOOK in Facebook Contest

14 Mar

Outskirts Press, America’s fastest growing self-publishing and book marketing company, announced today the results of the random drawing from among its five thousand Facebook fans at http://facebook.com/OutskirtsPress. David Olson of Albuquerque, NM will be “springing” to his mailbox to pick up his new Barnes & Noble NOOK e-Reader. Congratulations, David!

“We hope David will have many hours of reading pleasure from his new NOOK e-Reader,” said Outskirts Press CEO Brent Sampson. “It’s just our special way of saying thank you to all of our enthusiastic fans for liking Outskirts Press on Facebook.”

The Barnes & Noble NOOK e-Reader is a high tech treasure for any 21^st century reader. Over 2.5 million (and growing) books, magazines, newspapers, comics, and more can be downloaded with this handy device. Paired with available free in-store support and in-store reading, the NOOK is a great complement to any reader’s collection.

Readers also cut down on their entertainment expenses with available library borrowing available on the device.

The NOOK itself is very lightweight and compact. It weighs less than eight ounces and fits handily in any pocket or small purse. It can hold a personal library of books – and the new E Ink screen reads as easily as real paper. There is no glare, and one can read as clearly outside under a bright sun as in the muted light of one’s own living room.

A single charge of the battery keeps readers turning pages for over two months – made all the easier with NOOK’s faster new page turner function — and there is always free WI FI access at AT&T hotspots across the country. One can also connect to WI FI hotspots at home or on the road.

Exclusive Outskirts Press anthologies, announcements and contests through its social channels are just another way the self-publishing company helps keep its social friends and authors united and engaged in the act of writing, reading, and publishing. In fact, just recently, Patricia A. Hawkenson, author of Magnetic Repulsion: 100 Poems From Desire to Disgust, was awarded a free iPad 2 from Outskirts Press for her “Video Valentine” submission, which was voted the most popular in a public poll. “Wow! Thank you, Outskirts Press! This was a FUN opportunity, and [runner-up] Rev. Judy Neal is very deserving of her prize. I am so glad she is to receive a special gift, as well. It was a close nail biting race, and I enjoyed the competition more because our results kept changing as our friends, family, and supporters came to vote for each of us. Thank you, again, to all involved. I’m feeling the luv!”

The prize runner-up Judy Neal won was an iPad e-book edition of her book, Another Woman at the Well…, also published by Outskirts Press, which offers e-book publishing and distribution options for the three largest e-book platforms: Amazon (http://outskirtspress.com/p/kindle), Barnes & Noble Nook (http://outskirtspress.com/p/nook) and the Apple iPad (http://outskirtspress.com/p/ipad).

Is your book ready for prime time? Let’s talk...

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Posted by Outskirts Press on March 14, 2012 in self publishing news

Tags: Barnes & Noble NOOK, book marketing, free Apple iPad, outskirts press, self-publishing

Patricia A. Hawkenson Video Takes First Place in Outskirts Press “Love” Contest

13 Mar

Outskirts Press, the fastest growing self-publishing and book marketing company, announced today that Patricia A. Hawkenson is the winner of their recent “Show Me the Love” video contest, which started on Valentine’s Day. Hawkenson’s charming video was not only technically impressive, it was wittingly entertaining and, despite stiff competition, became the unanimous first choice among voting viewers on the SelfPublishingNews.com blog.

Hawkenson, the author of Magnetic Repulsion:100 Poems from Desire to Disgust, was presented a 32 GB, Wi-Fi enabled Apple iPad 2 by Outskirts Press to make her their valentine after her video received fifty-one percent of the vote by viewing fans. For much of the contest it was a neck and neck race between Hawkenson and Reverend Judy Neal, author of Another Woman at the Well, whose heart-felt video received forty-five percent of the vote.

Ultimately, Hawkenson edged out Neal as the final votes poured in. “It was a close nail biting race, and I enjoyed the competition more because our results kept changing as our friends, family, and supporters came to vote for each of us,” commented Hawkenson.

“All things considered, it was a real photo finish,” said Outskirts Press Manager of Author Support Elise L. Connors, “but Patricia’s creative entry won out in the end and we’re pleased to be able to give her a Valentine’s Day iPad 2 for her impressive efforts soliciting support from her friends and associates. After all, isn’t that what authors do when they successfully market their books? We also want to thank the authors of all the other video submissions. It was a great way for all of us to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year and bring a little more ‘love’ into the world.”

Any author, published with Outskirts Press or not, was eligible to enter the contest by shooting a short video imaginatively showing why they love their self-publisher or being published in general. Videos were posted on YouTube in February and three finalists were chosen for the final vote based on the number of “Thumbs Up” accolades received.

Appropriately enough, as a winner of the Valentine’s Day “Show Me the Love” contest, Patricia A. Hawkenson’s Magnetic Repulsion: 100 Poems from Desire to Disgust is an original collection of poetry about being in love…and out of it.

While the poet notes that true love is thought to be eternal, she is also aware that it often ends up with a trip to the lawyer’s office, as so many lovers discover. Hawkenson’s poetry covers the full gamut of the romantic experience from wonderful first blush through the tentative uncertainty of love to that occasional need for healing when it all fades. Her one hundred poems are a compelling and necessary companion for anyone who has ever fallen in and out of love, and they convincingly evoke the sensual, yet complex nature of this most essential of human experiences.

Hawkenson is not only a poet, but also a stained glass kaleidoscope artist and an educator who makes her home in Eau Claire,Wisconsin. She posts additional poetry on her blog “Expressive Domain.” Here’s her winning video: