Tag: outskirts press

Amazon Featured Book-of-the-Week

Amazon Featured Book-of-the-Week: “Traitor Comet” by Personne

Paris more than blossomed between World War I and World War II-it was considered by many to be the cultural and artistic capital of the world. Artists and thinkers from every corner of the globe visited or moved there, interacting with each other and developing some of our most exciting modern expression.

In Traitor Comet, not even the troubled young Austrian Geoff Weidmann is immune to the city’s allure. A hermit back home, he unwillingly joins his brother, Franz, and Franz’s French wife in Paris after his father forces the reunion. Though Geoff remains haunted by his violent past-both the Great War and what he might have done against another man on his farm-when he meets the surrealist poets Antonin Artaud and Robert Desnos, his world cracks open. Antonin holds a mirror to Geoff’s experiences, and Geoff ultimately comes to learn from their similarities; Robert is jovial and irreverent, fresh air lightening Geoff’s life. Both men are original, creative thinkers willing to argue against even the founder of the surrealist movement of which they are a part.

Part thrilling mystery, part coming-of-age tale, part page-turning history lesson, Traitor Comet is the first title in a historical novel series based on the real lives of avant-garde writers Antonin Artaud and Robert Desnos. It is also the first book, fiction or nonfiction, to focus on their unique friendship, which ultimately led one man to save the other from the Nazis. This little-known aspect of the lives of these otherwise famous men means that author Personne, an independent journalist, historian, and researcher, has a wealth of information to continue this story-from this introduction to these men who loved free thought and action into a dramatic series about these rebels with a cause.

Want to see your book featured as an Amazon Book-of-the-Week? Click here.

Have you written a book that you’d like to publish?

Connect with a Publishing Consultant today to learn how Outskirts Press can help YOU publish YOUR masterpiece:

Outskirts Press stands behind our book printing and design services with the best 100% satisfaction guarantee in the self-publishing industry. Start publishing today.

Click above to watch the video. New authors, click here for your free publishing kit.

Book Video Trailers

Introducing Self-Publishing Author Damon Dillon’s Book Video Trailer for “Thunder Dragons”

Have you ever thought the sound of thunder was scary?

There was once a kid who used to be afraid of thunder, especially the BIG thunderstorms. But then he learned all about the Thunder Dragons, and suddenly he felt safe again…

Buy now from Outskirts Press for a 10% discount

Damon Dillon is a military officer serving in the Washington DC area. This story came about while doing his first and most important job – being a Dad. If sharing this helps even one more kid out there be a little less scared of thunder, it’s worth it.

Have you written a book that you’d like to publish?

Connect with a Publishing Consultant today to learn how Outskirts Press can help YOU publish YOUR masterpiece:

Outskirts Press stands behind our book printing and design service.

Promotions, publishing promotions, self-publishing

How to Write an Author Bio that STANDS OUT

woman sitting on gray chair while writing on table
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator on Pexels.com

It’s easy to overlook the importance of your author bio on your book cover. Often, author bios are tucked away on the back cover or at the bottom of some articles you’ve written. Yet, an effective author bio is mandatory if you’re self-publishing a book and want to make writing a career.

If you have no author bio at all, readers may be puzzled by its absence, but if your bio is bad, your potential buyers may simply change their mind about purchasing your book.

Thankfully, composing an author bio is way easier than writing a whole book. First and foremost, keep your bio brief (between 50-150 carefully crafted words).

Another important convention is to write your bio in the 3rd person point-of-view rather than in 1st person. While you want your writer’s voice to shine through, 3rd person grants your bio an air of professionalism, and allows you to “brag” without sounding immodest. “Judy Smith is the recipient of several Book-of-the-Year Awards” sounds much better than “I’ve received several “Book-of-the-Year Awards,” doesn’t it?

If you’re writing non-fiction, you want your bio to mention your expertise, and mentioning your education probably couldn’t hurt. Even outside of academia, it’s nifty to show-off any higher degrees you may have, such as an MFA or a Doctorate.

If you’re writing fiction, mentioning your relevant life experience in your bio is useful. For example, if you’re writing a novel about running, readers will buy into your story more readily if you’ve run a few marathons yourself.

A common way to add a personal touch to the bio is to share information about your family. Avoid charting out your entire life story. Instead, stick to where you’re currently living (unless a previous residence pertains to your book’s subject). With regards to your family, only mention what you’re comfortable with (and what they’re comfortable with). For example, some authors are happy to say they have a wife, a teenager, and a turtle. Other authors will omit that personal information altogether.

Remember that your bio doesn’t just exist on the back cover of your book. You can, and should, use the same bio in your marketing, such as your author webpage, your Amazon sales page, and on your various social media platforms, etc.

If you require the assistance of a professional copywriter to collaborate on your author bio with you, the optional “Cover Pitch Enhancement” service at Outskirts Press may be of value to you. With this pre-production service, a professional copywriter will collaborate with you to make sure your title, your sub-title, your back cover headline, back cover synopsis, and your author bio are as professional and effective as they can be.

And right now, that service is free with the promotion code ccpitch.

But that’s not all! When you purchase the Ultimate Black & White or Ultimate Full-Color publishing package using that promotion code during this limited-time offer, a professional cover designer will also create a unique custom cover exclusively for your book based upon your specifications. 

This is the single best way to get the best possible cover for your book and it’s free when you start publishing with Outskirts Press right now. Simply enter promotion code ccpitch in the shopping cart when you securely place your order online today before this deal expires.

Have you written a book that you’d like to publish?

Connect with a Publishing Consultant today to learn how Outskirts Press can help YOU publish YOUR masterpiece:

Outskirts Press stands behind our book printing and design services with the best 100% satisfaction guarantee in the self-publishing industry. Start publishing today.

Promotions, publishing promotions, self-publishing

Publish Your Book & Get the Best Possible Cover for Free Today

Are you ready to publish a book that looks like a million bucks?  You’ve taken care of the words, now let us take cover of the cover. It’s on us (a $399 value)

Right now, when you purchase the Ultimate Black & White or Ultimate Full-Color publishing package, a professional cover designer will create a unique custom cover exclusively for your book based upon your specifications.  It’s free during this limited-time promotion!

But that’s not all. When you start publishing today, we will also add the Cover Pitch Enhancement option to your cover, which means a professional copywriter will collaborate with you to make sure your title, your sub-title, your back cover synopsis, and your author biography are as professional and effective as they can be.

This is the single best way to get the best possible cover for your book and it’s free when you start publishing with Outskirts Press right now. Simply enter promotion code ccpitch in the shopping cart when you place your order securely online.

Have you written a book that you’d like to publish?

Connect with a Publishing Consultant today to learn how Outskirts Press can help YOU publish YOUR masterpiece:

Outskirts Press stands behind our book printing and design services with the best 100% satisfaction guarantee in the self-publishing industry. Start publishing today.

Advice, Outskirts Press News, self-publishing

Self-Publishing Book Distribution is NOT the Same

If you think the book distribution network available through all the different self-publishing companies is the same, think again! Most of them offer varying levels of “global reach” and some even offer different degrees of distribution within their own companies.

What is a “distribution network?”

A distribution network is a way of describing the way all books are sourced, warehoused, distributed, and sold. They use “metadata” to define the distribution record for each book. So, if you want your book available at more places around the world, you need to make sure your metadata is as good as it can be.

Okay… what is “metadata?”

Simply put, metadata is what publishers provide to distributors and retailers about books for the purposes of informative distribution. Unbeknownst to most authors, there is a great divide between the metadata provided by the various self-publishers. Some self-publishing companies provide distributors like Ingram the bare minimum while others provide the whole enchilada. The better and more thorough the metadata, the better and more thorough the distribution. Distributors (such as Ingram) and retailers (like Amazon and Barnes & Noble) have additional “fields” for additional book details that help to classify, catalog, and categorize books in a more effective manner. By the same token, search engines perform more accurately when more metadata is distributed about books. The end result? Better search results, more accurate search results, and by that logic, “higher” search results in the results. In a nutshell: better and easier “findability” for your book. I.e., a greater potential for greater sales.

Want a real-world example?

Let’s use BookFinder.com to compare the distribution network for two comparable novels, one published by Amazon and one published by Outskirts Press. You can confirm these facts yourself by visiting Book Finder, or use BookFinder.com to compare the distribution network of any of the publishers you are considering.

Example # 1 Published by Amazon

Title: Chances
Author: Regina Bishop
ISBSN-13: 9798218187880
Paperback Pages: 205
Distribution Network:

Note: The above screen shot is taken directly from BookFinder.com for full transparency. Please click on the image to enlarge it to full viewing size.

Example #2 Published by Outskirts Press

Title: David’s Sling
Author: Andrew Ceroni
ISBSN-13: 9781977253330
Paperback Pages: 318
Distribution Network:

Note: The above screen shot is taken directly from BookFinder.com for full transparency. Please click on the image (and then use the magnifying glass) to enlarge it to full viewing size. It was too long to fit, otherwise.

As you can see, all self-publishing companies are not created equal. Have you written a book that you’d like to publish and sell globally?

Connect with a Publishing Consultant today to learn how Outskirts Press can help YOU publish YOUR masterpiece:

Outskirts Press stands behind our book printing and design services with the best 100% satisfaction guarantee in the self-publishing industry. Start publishing today.

Click above to watch the video. New authors, click here for your free publishing kit.

Amazon Featured Book-of-the-Week

Amazon Featured Book-of-the-Week: “Gunnar’s Odyssey” by Richard Hollenback

Route 66. The Pan-American Highway. The Oregon Trail.

Up there with some of the greatest well-known American travel routes is a lesser-known one, the Santa Fe Trail. For about sixty years, this primarily commercial highway stretched between Missouri and New Mexico. Both Mexican and American traders used it, as did gold rush adventurers, stagecoaches, and many others.

With the expansion of the US railroads by the 1880s, the trail fell into disuse. But before then, life-and-death dramas played out daily along the rough, remote route. In Gunnar’s Odyssey, Richard Hollenback’s meticulously researched Old West adventure novel, Gunnar Mann is facing many of those trials and tribulations as he travels along the Santa Fe Trail for months, his only goal to get back home to his girlfriend.

Driven by a factually accurate history of life in the Southwest during the mid-1800s and brightened with romance and the author’s genuine passion for the region, Gunnar’s Odyssey is the perfect page-turner for anyone who loves reading about the early American West.

Want to see your book featured as an Amazon Book-of-the-Week? Click here.

Have you written a book that you’d like to publish?

Connect with a Publishing Consultant today to learn how Outskirts Press can help YOU publish YOUR masterpiece:

Outskirts Press stands behind our book printing and design services with the best 100% satisfaction guarantee in the self-publishing industry. Start publishing today.

Click above to watch the video. New authors, click here for your free publishing kit.

Author Interview, Author Spotlight, Authors on Tour

Self-Publishing Author David D. Berstein Discusses His Latest Book, “Mirror City”

David D. Berstein is taking his book, Mirror City on tour – a Virtual Book Tour, that is – with Outskirts Press! Technology has created a wide variety of ways to reach audiences all over the world. All it takes is a little thinking outside the box, and nowadays you can market a self-published book in a variety of affordable and impactful ways. Virtual book tours, for example, are a great way to connect with readers from all corners of the globe, all from the comfort of your own home. Join David D. Berstein as he appears in features and interviews (such as the one below) in the weeks and months ahead!

OP: Tell us a little bit about Mirror City.  What is it about?

David:  My book is about a young boy named James who has been suffering from anger issues. He is always angry not only at his family, but at the world. One day when he is punished and sent to his room, he discovers that his mirror is actually a portal to a different world and going though it begins him on a fantastic adventure he will never forget.  

OP: Why did you decide to write this story?

David:  I decided to write this book after I was working with many children and families and saw how bad anger issues destroyed these families. So, I decided to take this problem, combine it with a fantastic journey and world and put a fun book together. I thought it would be a great way to not only help children but adults as well. Hopefully this book will get out there and change many lives.   

OP: How did you get your book published? 

David: I got my book published through a self-publishing book company called Outskirts Press. This will be my 7th book with this company.  

OP: What types of readers would be interested in this story?

David: This book can be for many types of readers. It is not only for children, but adults as well. It also could be enjoyed by people who love great picture books and the fantasy genre.

OP: What is special about your book?  

David: I think my book is special because of the unique way I put it together by turning a picture book into a self-help book with a twist. It also is a fun story that many types of audience can enjoy and learn from. 

OP: What differentiates it from other books in the same category? 

David: I have to be honest here, I cannot compare my book “Mirror City” to other books in this category. It is just a unique book in general that will fit several categories and is a wonderful book for many people. 

OP: Have you published any other books and do you plan to publish more?

David: I have six other books which include my award-winning middle grade trilogy called “The Cort Chronicles” which include “The Portal”, “Spirral” and “Rebirth”. Two other picture books called “The Enchanted Rope”, and “Peanut” and I also have a collection of poetry called “Voices of the Heart, a collection of poems” which is also an award winner. I am working on a few books right now one is the prequel to my trilogy and also working on a new YA series of 8 books called “8 Hidden Kingdoms” I do not have publishing dates for these books yet.

OP: How can someone learn more about your book or purchase it?

David: My book is available on all major online bookstores like Amazon, Barnes and Noble and many others. It can also be found on the Outskirts Press website for a discount price.

OP: Thanks for your time, David! We look forward to learning more about you as you visit other bloggers!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Bernstein is an energy healer and children’s book author who has worked with children for many years. He is the author of an award-winning middle grade trilogy called The CORT Chronicles: The Portal, Spirral, and Rebirth. He wrote two books in a self-help trilogy: The Enchanted Rope and Peanut, and Mirror City is the third book in this collection. The author of an award-winning collection of poetry, Voices of the Heart, he has also published poems in magazines and anthologies. Bernstein is the recipient of five Editor’s Choice awards and a proud uncle of two teenage boys.

GET PUBLISHED NOW

Have you written a book that you’d like to publish?

Connect with a Publishing Consultant today to learn how Outskirts Press can help YOU publish YOUR masterpiece:

Outskirts Press stands behind our book printing and design services with the best 100% Satisfaction Guarantee in the self-publishing industry. 

Amazon Featured Book-of-the-Week

Celebrate Children’s Book Month

Children’s Book Month is a month-long celebration of children’s books and the joy of reading. It is celebrated every November in the United States. Children’s Book Month was founded in 1919 by the Children’s Book Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to literacy and children’s books.

The purpose of Children’s Book Month is to promote the importance of reading for children of all ages. Reading is essential for children’s development, both academically and personally. It helps them to learn new things, expand their vocabulary, and develop their imagination. Reading also helps children to relax and de-stress, and it can be a great way to bond with parents and caregivers.

During Children’s Book Month, libraries, schools, and bookstores host a variety of events to celebrate children’s books and encourage reading. These events may include author visits, storytime sessions, book clubs, and crafts. Many publishers and booksellers also offer special discounts on children’s books during Children’s Book Month.

Here are some ways to celebrate Children’s Book Month:

Visit your local library or bookstore and browse the selection of children’s books.
Read to your child every day.
Take your child to a storytime session or author visit.
Join a book club with your child.
Make a donation to your local library or literacy organization.
Support authors and illustrators by buying their books.
Most importantly, have fun and enjoy the joy of reading with your child!

Have you written a book that you’d like to publish?

Connect with a Publishing Consultant today to learn how Outskirts Press can help YOU publish YOUR masterpiece:

Outskirts Press stands behind our book printing and design services with the best 100% satisfaction guarantee in the self-publishing industry. Start publishing today.

Click above to watch the video. New authors, click here for your free publishing kit.

Amazon Featured Book-of-the-Week

Amazon Featured Book-of-the-Week: “Gobelin” by Julia McKinlay

Solitude can be a fickle thing. It may be thrust upon you, it may be a choice, it may be an unwelcome punishment. Those moments spent alone can be torturous. But there are always answers in silence.

This story begins with a young girl, Aage, who is accused by her father of being a witch. After a brutal attack and a false accusation, she is banished from her island home. The malicious events never leave her mind.

Ioman lives on the savanna, with The Azure, his tribe, a matriarchal society. War with neighbors causes the death of his parents and he becomes a celebrated warrior. He changes the foundations of the tribe causing a deep resentment in the women. Ioman is forced to leave his home to find his future with his love.

And Searlait, who is born to the Gens D’Etoile, an exotic and mysterious tribe that circle the desert to find forgiveness from the Sun’s wrath. Searlait’s self-imposed estrangement sets her apart from her tribe.

They all find themselves on the island of Gobelin. 

Together they form a diverse and loving family. The characters are complex, and their cultures intricate. This book will take you on a journey that will keep you wanting more. Travel through the landscapes, the traditions, the strife’s, both poignantly painful and inextricably beautiful. All tinged with a hint of magic, secret and subtle hidden in the wind of Gobelin.

Want to see your book featured as an Amazon Book-of-the-Week? Click here.

Have you written a book that you’d like to publish?

Connect with a Publishing Consultant today to learn how Outskirts Press can help YOU publish YOUR masterpiece:

Outskirts Press stands behind our book printing and design services with the best 100% satisfaction guarantee in the self-publishing industry. Start publishing today.

Click above to watch the video. New authors, click here for your free publishing kit.

Survey Poll

Writer Maria Alice Silva-Amey wants your help choosing her book cover.

Beautiful Moon – Wakes Me Up Before the Sunlight

Synopsis

One day, Lara sees her dreams break apart, slow down, and pause because she didn’t tell the truth, which hurts her heart. She is looking for more information about her great-grandparents to learn of her family’s heritage, which leads her in a new direction toward a new heritage! Lara learned from her great-grandfather how their lives were a continuous process of creation and with a great sensibility of achievements that contributed to the development of a new generation. All the experiences acquired with these achievements brought her grandfather a sense of a different world with a comprehensive vision, a vision of peace. But Lara sees the world as a Blood Moon, and feels something profound as she understands the whole story. Humanity is looking for a cycle of conflict linked to anguish and an imbalance of achievements, but Lara tries through simplicity and sensibility to find a happy ending. In the thirst of her dreams, she finds a single place, her silence, where she feels safe.

About the Author:

Maria Alice Silva-Amey is the author of Poetry Gives Different Magnitudes to Understand Your Thoughts and Culminating Experience Personal Theory: Open Feelings Toward Choosing Your Dreams. Her books Body and Life and Time Is Short are written in Portuguese. Ms. Silva-Amey is a member of the National Career Development Association, and she received a MS in Counseling from California State University. https://mariaaliceamey.com Instagram: @maria_alice_amey

Please take a look at two possible covers below and then vote on the choice you recommend for Maria Alice Silva-Amey.

Cover A

Click on thumbnail to enlarge – opens in new window.

Cover B

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If you don’t see survey above click here to visit the webpage version.