Current and Aspiring Writers Can Publish Their Work for No Cost in the New Outskirts Press Facebook Anthology

Fandemonium, the first anthology from Outskirts Press to exclusively feature work from its Facebook friends, was a hit among fans of the publisher. Royalties from the sale of this anthology all went to benefit the American Red Cross – the charity chosen by both contributing and non-contributing fans on a Facebook poll. Because the initial anthology was such a success, the publisher is opening their “doors” for submission again, for Fandemonium Volume 2.

Authors with a poem, short story, joke, recipe, or any form of writing they would like to share with the world can visit the Outskirts Press Facebook page at facebook.com/outskirtspress to submit their work. The entries must be five thousand words or less and the writer must be the sole copyright holder for the piece they submit.

Submissions can be voted on by Facebook members with a click of the “Like” button to help Outskirts Press determine which contributions will be selected for the anthology.

“We’re excited to once again offer this free publishing opportunity to writers around the globe,” said Outskirts Press Vice President Kelly Schuknecht.  “The support and philanthropic spirit of our fans makes all of the effort worthwhile. And besides, it’s a great way for authors new to Outskirts Press to see just how fast, fun, and satisfying it can be to publish.”

Writers who are ready to publish their work for no cost should visit and “Like” the Outskirts Press Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/OutskirtsPress for more details and to submit their work.

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Help Outskirts & its Facebook fans donate to earthquake relief

Your Book Publishing & Marketing Newsletter
Fandemonium, the Facebook Anthology, Is Published!
For every copy sold, Outskirts Press will donate $7.38 to the American Red Cross for earthquake relief in Japan.  Click here to order your copy today.
This January Outskirts Press invited members of its Facebook community at http://facebook.com/outskirtspress to submit poetry or short stories for free publication in an Outskirts Press Facebook anthology. Over 100 Facebook members submitted content on the Outskirts Press “wall” and to Outskirts Press directly. Fans were asked to “Like” the submissions they liked the best.

Facebook fans then voted on the title of the anthology and the cover design of the book. More importantly, the social community was asked to vote for a charitable organization to receive royalties resulting from sales of this book. The American Red Cross received nearly 50% of the votes.

Proceeds from the sale of Fandemonium will be donated to the American Red Cross on behalf of Outskirts Press and its Facebook Fans.

Fandemonium was just published earlier this month. Outskirts Press is donating $7.38 to the American Red Cross on behalf of its Facebook community for every copy sold of Fandemonium. Now, in the wake of the earthquake in Japan, today is the perfect time to donate to the American Red Cross by ordering your copy of Fandemonium: Selected Short Stories & Poems From Talented Facebook Writers.

Order yours today by clicking here.

Fandemonium not only brought our Facebook members together for a good cause, it provided an easy, fun, free way to experience the joy of publishing with Outskirts Press first-hand. If you are a writer or
professional with a book in your future (or in your hands), Outskirts Press can help you with writing, publishing, and/or marketing it. Visit our website for more information: OutskirtsPress.com

Watch the Fandemonium book video trailer here…

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Facebook Fandemonium Book Video – World Premiere

The votes from our Facebook community regarding the Fandemonium webpage have been received and collected. Now that the poll is closed, the winning webpage design/color scheme is “Diamond Blue” shown below, which received 60% of the votes.

And now that the Fandemonium Book Video Trailer is complete, you can actually see the updated, true version of the webpage with its new “Media Center” section by clicking here.  All Diamond, Pearl, and Ruby packages offer the opportunity for authors to enhance their free author webpage with book video trailers and/or audio recordings.  If either of these enhancements are added to the author webpage, a new “Media Center” section of the webpage appears.

Here is the Fandemonium Book Video Trailer:

Outskirts Press produces and distributes book video trailers for all authors, regardless of where you have published. All you have to do is click here to order yours today. (Of course, you get a 50% discount if you’ve published with Outskirts Press!)

In the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan and the Pacific, now is an ideal time to donate to the American Red Cross.  For every copy of Fandemonium sold, Outskirts Press is donating $7.38 to the American Red Cross.

Order yours today from Amazon by clicking here.

Or receive a 10% discount by ordering directly from Outskirts Press by clicking here.

 

Facebook Publishing “Fandemonium” Update

Speaking of Facebook publishing, here is a summary and update on our Facebook anthology, Fandemonium

1. In January, we invited members of our Facebook community to submit short works (poems, short stories, excerpts, etc.) to our Facebook Wall. Over a 100 members shared their creativity with us for a chance to be published for free in a Facebook anthology.

2. Next, we invited members of our social community on Facebook and this blog to vote on a title for the anthology. The majority of the votes (33%) voted to name the book Fandemonium: Selected Short Stories & Poems From Talented Facebook Writers

3. Next, our social community of writers and published authors voted for the charitable organization which would receive royalties from the sale of Fandemonium once it was published.  The vast majority (45%) chose The American Red Cross.

4. With the title and charity in place, it was time to design a cover.  We provided a number of different concepts, and received some valuable feedback and suggestions from our community, and then presented two final concepts for our Facebook fans to vote on.  60% voted for this one:

5. The pre-production process of Fandemonium has truly been a collaborative effort, showcasing all the flexibility and control all authors receive when they publish with Outskirts Press.   Our social community even got to vote on the pricing model by determining the retail price, profit, and discount for the book.   Over half voted for a retail price of $16.95 and a profit of $7.38 every time a paperback copy sells.

6. With the details set, Outskirts Press went to work producing the book according to the Facebook community’s wishes.    This is the time when our authors can sit back and relax and let us do what we do best.  Soon, the galley review process started.   This is the online digital proofing process where the files are presented to the author for review and either approval or requested changes.  During this review process, we submitted a number of minor corrections we wanted the interior formatter to make to the interior file through the easy, fast, hand’s on submission form.

7.  Final corrections and quality check (we call this process “premedia”) is taking place now.  We expect copies of Fandemonium to be available worldwide on sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble before the end of this month. We’ll keep everyone posted.

8. When you’re ready to publish your book, check out all the high-quality writing, publishing, and marketing services available at Outskirts Press by clicking here.  Tell us which options and services you like by clicking on the “Facebook Like” buttons under every service listing.

Fandemonium (Facebook Anthology) Pricing Is Set, Thanks to Facebook Community

Last week our Facebook community members and blog readers were invited to participate in the pricing of Fandemonium, our first Facebook Anthology that is being written and published by our Facebook Fans.   Our Facebook community had already voted on the title and cover for the anthology, as well as the charity to receive the royalties (The American Red Cross).  Over the past 7 days, they’ve been voting on the pricing scenario to apply to the book.

Pricing Scenario #1 was the winner, receiving 53% of the votes.  Here is the screen shot from within the Outskirts Press Publishing Center when the pricing was set for Fandemonium according to your votes:

Whenever authors publish with Outskirts Press, they receive a pricing screen like this, which allows them to increase or decrease elements of their pricing in “real-time” with the “plus” or “minus” buttons.  

One of the major advantages of publishing with Outskirts Press is the control and flexibility you, the author, have over your book’s pricing.   Pricing Scenario #1 sets a retail price of $16.95 for the book, and delivers a whopping $7.38 to the American Red Cross every time a new copy sells through Ingram, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and the many, many other sales channels offered by the Outskirts Press Distribution-on-Demand sales network available with the Diamond Publishing Package.

The submissions have all been received and the pre-production steps have all been completed.  Now Fandemonium enters the production stage of the process where the interior is formatted, the cover is finalized, the ISBN is assigned, and the distribution sales channels are established.  Stay tuned in February when the book enters the Galley Proof Review Stage.

Vote on Pricing and Profit for Your Facebook Anthology

One of the most powerful elements of publishing with Outskirts Press is the flexibility granted to the author regarding pricing and profit. We are one of the only publishers that pay 100% royalties (100% of the profits), but as you will see in this posting, the actual “dollars and cents” depends upon three other factors: The Retail Price, The Discount, And the Base Copy Price, or in other words, the single copy production price.

Most publishers enforce all these prices without giving you any say in the matter, but you will see from the pie charts below, that can significantly affect YOUR profits and your retail price.  At Outskirts Press, we only set the base copy price of the book.  The retail price and discount (we call it a “Price Plan”) is up to you.

Book pricing is complicated because everyone has an opinion about what they think “the best” pricing is.  So what better way to demonstrate the flexibility of our pricing by allowing our social community the chance to vote on the Pricing Option they like best for the Facebook Anthology, Fandemonium?

Below are 4 different pricing options. Scroll down to the Polling box and vote on your favorite. The pricing option that receives the most votes at the end of the polling period will be the pricing we use for Fandemonium.

You can click on the charts to enlarge them if you need to see them better.

Pricing Option 1 has a retail price of $16.95, a price plan of 25, and a profit of $7.38 for The American Red Cross every time a book sells.  This is the price plan we recommend for this book. Even though we give the power to the author, we always make recommendations to help the author select the best pricing for his or her goals.

Pricing Option 2 also has a retail price of $16.95, but has a price plan of 50.  This means 50% of the retail price goes to the wholesalers and retailers who are involved in selling the book (Ingram, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.).  As a result, the profit for the American Red Cross is lower ($3.16).   Physical bookstores often require significant portions of the retail price in order to be compelled to consider selling the book, but online sites like Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com don’t. 

Pricing Option 3 demonstrates the powerful flexibility of publishing with Outskirts Press. Yes, you can set the retail price for this particular book as low as $7.95.  But you will notice the majority of the “pie”  goes toward the production cost of the book ($5.33) as a result. Even with Ingram/Amazon only getting $1.99, that leaves only 63 cents of “author profit” for The American Red Cross.   Since the “pie”  is smaller ($7.95 instead of $16.95) all the pieces are smaller, too, with the exception of the production price, which stays the same in all four options.

Pricing Option 4 has a retail price of $12.95  and a Price Plan of 25.  The base copy price is the same in every scenario, which leaves $3.24 for wholesalers/retailers and $4.38 for The American Red Cross.

What pricing option should the Facebook Anthology have? Vote here:

The Publishing Process for the Facebook Anthology

Even though we are still collecting submissions to the Facebook Anthology, Fandemonium, on our Facebook Page, and we are still seeking final votes on the cover finalists here, that doesn’t mean we cannot begin the pre-production process for the book through our easy-to-use website at Outskirts Press.

For those writers who haven’t yet published through Outskirts Press, the following posting allows you to experience the pre-production process of Fandemonium “first hand.”

Since proceeds of Fandemonium are going to charity, Fandemonium is being published under our Diamond package to deliver the best profits for The American Red Cross. This also provides the most options to choose from in terms of trim size, production options, and marketing options.

First you customize the book’s format and trim size.  Fandemonium will use the most common and popular format and trim size (6×9 paperback), but you can see many of the trim sizes available to choose from when you’re ready to publish your own book.

Next comes the cover.  Fandemonium is receiving a custom cover, which is being determined by a separate vote by our community participants by clicking here.   The Custom Cover option always includes first receiving two separate design concepts from our designer based upon author direction/input. This process is similar to the concepts and voting we’ve been doing on this blog over the past week. Of course, when it’s YOUR cover, the only vote that matters is your own.  Although you are welcome to put both concepts up on your own Facebook page or blog and seek votes to help you pick the “best” one, just as we did.

Then we simply need the answers to some basic information, like the title of the book, the sub-title, the author’s name, etc. There is always plenty of help with the “Question Mark” icons throughout the process, or your own Publishing Consultant or Author Representative is available, too.

Next comes customizing your interior. The majority of our authors select our Standard Interior Formatting option, and why not? It’s included for free and you receive an industry-best-practices professional interior design that raises the quality of your whole book.  Fandemonium will publish with this option, too:

Selecting optional production options is where the real customization fun begins, and since the Diamond package includes free options like the Ebook, a standard press release, and more, this is a fast and fun process for Fandemonium:

Selecting some popular marketing options or services comes next. Here’s where you really start to see the benefits of publishing with Outskirts Press, and the potential your book will have in the competitive market place. For  Fandemonium, our participating Facebook writers will receive a number of complimentary marketing services and products, including the Amazon Kindle edition:

Next, our authors set their own pricing, which means they determine their own retail price, their own discount, and their own profit.  We always pay 100% royalties, which means 100% of the profits of the book.  In this case, Fandemonium profits are going to The American Red Cross, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care how high the profits are, right?  In fact, we’re going to let our community members set the pricing of Fandemonium.

Next week we will present three different pricing scenarios for Fandemonium to allow our social community to vote on the pricing scenario they want most for this anthology.  Stay tuned to our Facebook Page, Twitter feed, or this blog for notice when the polls open.

Are you ready to publish your own book?

Assign your own Publishing Consultant to help you get started the right way here:

Vote for the new cover finalists

Over 500 people voted the first time to determine these two finalists for the cover design of your Facebook Anthology.   We took the top two covers from the first vote, listened to feedback and suggestions about how to improve them, and now you get to pick the final cover, (including the back).

Let your vote be heard again!  Scroll to the Poll box below the two choices and vote for either COVER 2 or COVER 4.  Voting will be closed when we reach as many votes as last time, so don’t delay. Vote today (and tell your Facebook friends to vote also by SHARING this page on your own wall).

COVER 2 (this earned 30% of the first vote)

 

COVER 4 (this earned 49% of the first vote)

 VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE HERE:

 

Vote on the Facebook Anthology cover design here

The charity for our Facebook Anthology, Fandemonium: Selected Short Stories & Poems From Talented Facebook Writers, has been determined via a public vote by you, our blog readers and Facebook fans.  

Royalty proceeds from the sale of Fandemonium will benefit the American Red Cross.   Thank you to everyone who voted and to everyone who has participated so far in our social networking publishing project.  There is still time to submit your poem or short story or excerpt on our Facebook Page. Just open a comment and submit something for possible free inclusion in Fandemonium!

Now it’s time for you to determine what the cover of Fandemonium is going to look like.  Here are the four choices.  Use the ballot box below to vote for your choice. We’ll be accepting votes through this weekend so be sure to share the voting process with your own Facebook friends and on your own Twitter account, especially if you’ve submitted content and want your cover preference to win! 

(It’s too small to see in these samples, but the Gold Seal notifies buyers that proceeds benefit the American Red Cross.)


Cover 1

Cover 2


Cover 3


Cover 4

 

When you publish your own book at Outskirts Press and select our Custom Cover option, you will receive 2 different concepts to choose from and further modify, just like this. The concepts can either be based upon your specific directions, or can be left up to the talents of our designers. It’s your choice.    

Start publishing with the Diamond or full-color Pearl package today to get $300 of spending money for options of your choice. That’s like getting a FREE professional custom cover design. Click here for the promotion details and promotion code.

Vote on the Facebook Anthology charity here

Our first ever Facebook Anthology has a title, as determined by you in our public vote.  The title of the book is Fandemonium: Selected Short Stories & Poems From Talented Facebook Writers.

Thank you to everyone who has participated so far in determining the title of the project and submitting poems, short stories, excerpts, recipes, or jokes for free publication.  There’s still time to submit on our Facebook Page. Just open a “comment” and cut and paste your submission.

The royalties for sales of the book are going to a good cause. We just don’t know WHAT good cause … yet.  But now is the time to vote on one:

For details about each of the charities, please visit their respective websites below to see what they do and what they stand for.    The charity receiving the highest percentage of votes by the end of business tomorrow will be the “winner.”

Reading is Fundamental

Big Brothers and Big Sisters of North America

Scholarship America

National Military Family Association

Operation Homefront

American Red Cross

Conservation Fund