Everyone likes a good make-over story. We’re all addicted to home improvement shows and look forward to seeing a newly designed home after the construction dust settles. We can’t wait to see a woman walk through a curtain, her hair freshly styled and wearing a dress she never thought she could. Even kids love seeing an old car on the road with a fresh paint job and new interior.
Outskirts Press has decided to join the makeover movement.
Now, if you haven’t yet published with Outskirts Press, you will see a fresh new look when you click on www.outskirtspress.com.
A user-friendly site that is easily viewed on tablets and mobile devices
New & improved one-click publishing suites that include everything you need
New & improved customizable packages that let you to make your book your way
We realized that if we were going to upgrade our look, we needed to upgrade your publishing process as well. While many people get excited about publishing a book, it can be daunting to wear all the hats of a writer, editor, graphic artist, book formatter, distributor, marketing expert, and royalty accountant all at the same time.
Now our One-Click publishing take care of everything for you. These all-inclusive packages include:
Original Custom Cover Design (with 2 unique concepts to choose from)
Enhanced Interior Book Formatting
Professional Cover Text Refinement for your back cover
Professional Copyediting
Expedited Service
Amazon Kindle E-Book Edition
Free Author’s Copies
Exclusive Marketing Guides designed to kick start your book promotion
A Personal Marketing Assistant
…as well as many other features.
You’ll always have a personal publishing professional to help you every step of the way.
We are so excited about the New & Improved Outskirts Press that this week we are inviting all non-fiction writers to experience our brand new One-Click Non-Fiction publishing package for an introductory offer of $500 off the normal price.
This means that while other writers are spinning their wheels trying to do everything by themselves, all you need to do is enter code Save500Aug16 at checkout and have an entire team behind you, working toward the success of your book…while you relax and enjoy your discount.
So what are you waiting for? Millions of people are looking for your book right now.
Authors have 2 days left to receive triple the number of free author copies when they get started with the Diamond or Pearl self-publishing packages.
DON’T DELAY-THIS OFFER EXPIRES ON JULY 31ST!
To receive the promotion, simply enter the promotion code TripleBooks when checking out of your shopping cart while purchasing the Diamond or Pearl publishing package. Click below for more information.
The relaunch of the NEW Outskirts Press website is scheduled for August 1. With the relaunch comes all new publishing packages, branding, and messaging. Our new suite of publishing service icons will prominently feature a new “O” when the new publishing packages are introduced on the new website. This “O” will also play a small role in the graphic design of some of our advertising efforts, both online and offline, as we roll out new advertising and marketing campaigns. Some other upgrades include:
Using one consistent trade-marked logo everywhere — the “stacked” version
Featuring a rotating header image that features our monthly publishing, marketing, and writing promotions
Offering a menu at the top that links to our shopping cart, our contact us page, our author login page, and our bookstore
We will continue to help authors develop and publish high-quality books by offering exceptional design, printing, publishing, distribution, and book marketing services. Stay tuned for updates before we go live on August 1, 2016.
You can keep apprised of these exciting changes as they occur by following us on one of our social media channels:
The life of a self-publishing author often requires flexibility, multiple talents and the willingness to explore new territory, creatively. It’s what keeps a writer’s mind supple and endlessly productive. In no other author is that principle better demonstrated than Daru “D.J.” Mincy, this week’s spotlighted self-publishing author.
Each week, we celebrate one of our successful authors in our Self-Publishing Author Spotlight. This week Outskirts Press proudly features Daru “D.J.” Mincy, author of several books, ranging from juvenile fiction to poetry to action/adventure, through Outskirts Press. Learn more about “D.J.” Mincy and his exciting works in this week’s Self-Publishing Author Spotlight.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
D.J. Mincy has been writing for more than 20 years. He lives in Maryland with his wife and daughter. His daughter Ava inspired him to turn his years of writing experience to children’s books.
The Dark Ones The Dark Ones is a poetic journey into the darkness of us all. This book will take you into the hearts of the characters and the paths they chose.
“Captivating, exciting, and emotional! The Dark Ones will grab you and give you a first person perspective of darker experiences.”
– Kim
“Fantastic imagery through out the Hiker’s poem. Every word draws you in deeper. Thrilling and thought provoking!”
– Joe
“The short story, The Hikers, would be a great movie!”
– Ronald
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Anarchy Rx
Morgan Beckett on her drive to work witness a man randomly kill several people on a major highway. Morgan escapes the mayhem of that day but is about to discover that mankind’s days are numbered. Morgan along with her brother and an unlikely group of new friends are faced with the destruction of humanity. They are on a quest to find the Tablets of Lucifer and battle the forces of evil, human or otherwise and save humanity’s soul. They will find strength in each other and from the most unlikely of sources in the darkest days of mankind.
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Adventures of Apple & Banana: Aisle of the Cookies
Towards the back of the store, a dim yellowish light could be seen. There were still some aisles left in the grocery store. At the back of the store, the silence was broken by a loud crash and laughter as the magical light swept through the last parts of the Safe and Fresh Grocery. The sound of the crash and laughter was coming from where the fruit, produce, and bakery section used to be. Near the fruit and produce in the bakery section were several overturned trays of pies and doughnuts. “Shh! You will wake up the bread,” a voice said in a hushed tone.The laughter stopped. “Yeah whatever, let’s wake up the bread! Yippee!” said a banana swinging on a makeshift rope and crashing into another tray of doughnuts and pies.
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Diego Montoya
At nightfall his redemption from darkness begins.
Born a slave Diego Montoya and his alter ego have roamed the earth for over two hundred years. He received his emancipation from slavery in the form of immortality. He hunts the scourges of humanity hoping to make amends for the many innocent lives he had taken. Diego is now ready to reveal his true self to the woman he loves but by doing so he will be breaking a rule from his kind and inviting the wrath of his maker.
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Adventures of Apple and Banana: The Mysterious Ebenezer Grapefruit
Four friends travel to a mysterious house. In this second adventure Apple and Banana along with their friends Peach and Orange go to the mysterious Ebenezer Grapefruit’s house. Once inside the mysterious house Ebenezer tells them of an incredible adventure that he and his friends went on over fifty years ago! Ebenezer’s adventure went terribly wrong and some of his friends disappeared on that fateful day. Ebenezer needs the four brave adventurers to help him locate his missing friends. Will the four friends accept Ebenezer’s request?
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Mystery of the Plum Statue
Safe and Fresh, a small and strange village has a new resident: a young apple, named Edward Edison. Edward had been going to Safe and Fresh Elementary for two weeks. As he walked towards school his feet shuffled. His oversized backpack slowed him down, along with the dread of another day at school. Every day at school Edward was bullied. He wondered if he would ever fit in. One day a statue of a plum girl was stolen from school and Edward vowed to find it even though he did not realize the importance of the statue or how important he would become in the battle against a rising evil. Would Edwards’ quest to find the missing statue turn him from a school joke to a hero?
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Have you registered your book to be displayed at the famous Book Expo America (BEA) tradeshow yet? If not, the deadline for Outskirts Press authors is this Friday, March 27, 2015.
The Book Expo of America (also known as the BEA) is America’s largest annual writing/publishing tradeshow and event, occurring the last week of May in New York City. Every year the BEA welcomes more than 100,000 international attendees, authors, publishers, agents and buyers. While the attendance is international, the focus is distinctly American, with American books, publishers and authors receiving the main interest.
By arranging exhibition through Outskirts Press, your book will receive valuable, face-out exposure on an exclusive shelf with 4 other titles. A representative will be on-hand to personally answer questions about your book. This way, interested parties can make further contact, during or after the fair.
All inquiries Outskirts Press receives about your book will be forwarded directly to you for personal follow-up in a Post-Show wrap-up.
Click here for details or to reserve your spot now before this Friday!
ForeWord’s Book of the Year Awards program was created to spotlight distinctive books from independent publishers. The judges—working librarians and booksellers—review the entries based upon on their experiences with patrons and customers. The annual ForeWord IndieFab Awards has for the past 17 years recognized the best in independent/self-published books. Winners are awarded cash prizes, along with priceless industry recognition that helps indie authors continue to make connections with readers and publishing insiders. More than 1,300 entries in 63 categories are being considered for the awards, which represent the best in small publishing offerings. Foreword Reviews will announce and celebrate the winners on Friday, June 26.
Congratulations to the following Outskirts Press authors for your consideration for the 2014 awards! As finalists, you’re already winners:
General
Picture Books, Early Reader
Science Fiction
Sports
The winners will be determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers selected from our readership. Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as Editor’s Choice Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced at a special program at the ALA Annual Conference this June.
Don’t be left out! The deadline for the 2015 Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards is this Friday, March 20, 2015.
If your book has a copyright of 2014 or 2015, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity you don’t want to miss! Now that so many books are published each year, customers look for “award-winning” books to spend their hard-earned dollars on. The only way to have an award-winning book is to enter contests, and this is one of the most prestigious.
What do you get when you win? In addition to the ability to promote your work as an “award-winning” book, there are various awards provided by Writer’s Digest, including their grand prize: $8,000 in cash and a trip to New York City!
THE PRIZES:
ONE GRAND PRIZE WINNER will be awarded $8,000 cash and promotion in Writer’s Digest The editors of Writer’s Digest will endorse and submit 10 copies of the Grand Prize-Winning book to major review houses such as The New York Times and The Washington Post. In addition, Book Marketing Works, LLC will provide a one-year membership in Publishers Marketing Association, guaranteed acceptance in a special-sales catalog providing national representation through 60,000 salespeople selling to non-bookstore markets, and much more!
9 FIRST-PLACE WINNERS will receive $1000 cash and promotion in Writer’s Digest. In addition, Book Marketing Works, LLC will provide a guaranteed review in Midwest Book Review, a one-year membership to Book Central Station, the eBook Beyond the Bookstore, a Publishers Weekly book by Brian Jud, and a $100 discount on a new website by NewMedia Website Design.
HONORABLE MENTION WINNERS will receive promotion at http://www.writersdigest.com and $50 worth of Writer’s Digest Books.
We can handle all of the submission details for you, including: printing copies of your book for the judges, mailing your book to the judges, paying your award submission fee, and completing the entry forms for you. This all comes with our Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards Submission option.
You’ve probably heard us crowing about Small Press Month this month. March is the perfect time to promote the amazing work of independent publishers and self-publishing authors. High quality self-publishing is easy. Marketing your book afterwards is the key.
We hope you’re taking advantage of this celebration to finish and promote your own book using the 31 tips (one per day) provided by Outskirts Press. The idea is to take a few moments each day to implement one important step in your efforts to complete, market and promote your self-published book.
Once that book gets completed, we hope you take our suggestions to stock up on hard copies, connect on social media, send out press releases and reach out to local schools, universities, fellow authors, small businesses and sales channels. Don’t worry if you’re just ramping up now. These small steps are simple enough to take two at a time. Here’s what the next few days of your Small Press Month should look like:
March 16 – Get talking. Small, local radio stations – particularly news/talk formats – are constantly on the lookout for interesting guests. Contact local radio producers in your area and pitch them on your book, tying it into Small Press Month. Not sure where to start? Outskirts Press offers a Guaranteed Radio Interview option to get you started.
March 17 – Think green. St. Patrick’s Day green, that is. Take the day to get started on electronic editions of your book, which save trees and open you up to huge audiences of ebook consumers. Outskirts Press can set up a Kindle, Nook or Apple iPad edition of your book in no time at all.
March 18 – Think big. Local is a great starting point, but don’t forget to contact the major newspapers about Small Press Month, too. They’re more likely to cover something if they are contacted by authors, so reach out in person. Be ready to tell your press contact what sets your book apart from others (unusual topic, great reviews, a sudden spike in sales, past media attention, etc.). Here’s one to get you started:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: 229 W. 43rd St., New York, NY 10036-3959 (212) 556-1234
March 19 – Center yourself. Contact local community centers and inform them of Small Press Month; post information on their community bulletin board, if one is available. Gather the local authors with whom you’ve teamed up and schedule an impromptu event, celebrating Small Press books.
March 20 – Make a leap. If you’re considering all of your publishing options, this may be the month to start with Outskirts Press. If things have stagnated with your current publisher, a fresh start may be just what you need to get sales moving again. Even if you’re not quite ready to publish, Outskirts Press can still help. We offer a variety of marketing products and services for authors. Browse those marketing products today at: http://outskirtspress.com/services/marketing.
Want more tips? Visit our blog to read the full post or follow us on Facebook to get a tip each day throughout the month.
START PUBLISHING AND GET A FREE KINDLE AND NOOK!
Get a step ahead in your marketing efforts and into today’s electronic world with a FREE Kindle format AND NOOK format of your self-published book! Start today with the promotion code below!
Make your book available on the 2 most popular e-book reading devices, the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble NOOK. More formats on Amazon and Barnes & Noble means more exposure in the e-book device world. Only books that have been submitted to the Amazon Kindle and the NOOK in the required formats are available for Kindle and NOOK readers to purchase and enjoy.
These 2 valuable, popular options are now FREE for authors who start publishing today. If you start right now and choose to publish with our industry-leading Diamond publishing service or our full-color Pearl publishing service, you will receive a FREE Amazon Kindle e-book format and a NOOK format at the time of publication.
Enter the promotion code KINDLENOOK15 when checking out of your shopping cart while purchasing the popular Diamond package or the full color Pearl publishing package.
In addition to receiving a FREE Kindle and NOOK format of your book, you’ll also receive the following with your Diamond package:
Standard Press Release. $99 value included free when you order your Diamond publishing service today.
Audio Excerpt. $99 value included free with your Diamond order today and a great way to share your voice with your readers, literally!
E-Book Edition (pdf). $99 value included free with your Diamond publishing service.
Cover Image. $99 value included free and a great way to enhance your cover.
Spring Arbor additional distribution. $99 value to complement the Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Ingram availability already included with your Diamond publishing service.
All in all, you’re looking at over $1,000 of free stuff in March!
“Before I found Outskirts Press, I used another publisher for an earlier book and the difference was like night and day. Throughout the process, all the members of my appointed Outskirts team helped me make decisions about what would work best from the content to the cover without exceeding my budget. The Outskirts print-on-demand service was quick and efficient in filling book orders. I would not consider working with any other publisher again.”
Kay Peterson’s life experiences and extensive travels have brought her in contact with people from many walks of life. After nine successful non-fiction books, 13 Days in Africa is her first venture into the creative world of fiction. Kay’s devoted readers hope she will continue to offer stories as intriguing as this safari adventure.
When tourists on an African safari are kidnapped by bandits, it changes their lives…forever. For Sarah, an American nurse who has just lost her job, it means accepting her past in order to find the family she always wanted. Sarah’s group includes a teenager named Boy trying to discover why he is alive; his racist father who resents his son’s existence; a former drug addict trying to rebuild her life, and the wealthy Englishman who loves her. Their leader is an Anglo-African guide haunted by his own ghosts. When the group is left stranded in Africa’s wild savanna, Sarah learns the value of living every moment, the importance of helping each other, and that hate and cruelty are two of the disguises worn by Fear.
13 Days in Africa is a memorable and evocative story of love and hate, kindness and cruelty, and the peace that comes when we can accept who we are.
Most self-published authors already recognize the value in publicizing their new release, and they do it in a variety of ways: social media, launch parties … and the all-important official press release. But, while self-publishing authors are savvy about the usefulness of PRs during a book launch, too often they forget that a press release can be a quick and effective tool to get your book some attention — and a much-needed boost in sales — any time of the year. It’s all in how you use it.
As an independent author, you’ll experience a number of important benchmarks that newspaper, TV, radio and other news outlets may be interested in passing along to potential readers. Each press release you put out represents an opportunity for you to highlight what’s so special about your book, and get yourself and your book new moments in the spotlight. So, when is it a good time for a new press release? Here are some helpful tips on using a press release to focus renewed attention for your book:
Use your release to tout good reviews. Are you getting raves on Amazon.com, NOOK or another bookseller’s site? Release a statement to make the media aware that your book is getting positive attention from other publications. This could renew media interest in booking author interviews.
Make special offers. Are you planning a sale or dropping the price of your book? Got a good two-for-one going on? Send out a press release to get the word out.
Announce your new website. Consider your new book and your new author platform separate issues/entities. Once your website or author page is up and running, send out a new release or update your original PR with your website link to make it easier for editors to find you and follow up.
Announce new or enhanced versions of your book. Perhaps you’ve updated your cover or contents, or you’ve added special eBook extra features to your book. This is an idea situation for a new press release.
Remember, a Custom Press Release from Outskirts Press is an extremely affordable, effective way to market your book, and target your efforts toward local and relevant media outlets and readers.
Have you hit an important milestone in your self-publishing journey? Outskirts Press will help you get the word out nationwide with a targeted, professionally produced press release.
Are you interested in publishing a full-color children’s book? Get the magic of One-Click Publishing from Outskirts Press.
We have taken our decade of experience self-publishing children’s books and built the ideal publishing package for children’s book authors. Picture this: 100% royalties and 0% confusion. You get everything you need and we take care of it all! Easy!
Here’s everything you get for one single, affordable price:
A professional production team and publishing consultant
5.5 x 8.5 perfect bound paperback format
5.5 x 8.5 laminated casebound hardback
Full-color custom cover
Professional cover scribing (back cover copy polish)
Full-color custom designed interior (up to 50 pages)
Up to 15 full-color custom illustrations (click here to see all the available styles)
Copyediting (up to 15,000 words)
Official copyright registration
Library of Congress number
Expedited service
Private Label ISBN (either yours or ours)
Barcode
Unlimited, worldwide distribution-on-demand via Ingram to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powells, Books-a-Million, and thousands more.
Spring Arbor Christian distribution (if applicable)
Publication press release
Custom press release
PR Publicist campaign
Electronic clipping service
60 second book video & distribution to YouTube
Bologna Children’s Book Fair “face-out” exposure
5 hours of personal marketing assistance
Marketing COACH tips via email for 2 years
With our all-inclusive “One-Click” package for children’s book authors, you get everything in one easy-to-purchase bundle. It’s never been faster, more convenient, or affordable to publish the full-color children’s book of your dreams, with amazing, award-winning, custom illustrations included! Click here for more details or to order.
P.S. Already have your illustrations? Don’t need custom interior design or a hardback? Perhaps you only need full-service full-color publishing and distribution services. If so, our full-color Pearl package may be just the ticket. Click here for more details.
You’ve probably heard us crowing about 
“Before I found Outskirts Press, I used another publisher for an earlier book and the difference was like night and day. Throughout the process, all the members of my appointed Outskirts team helped me make decisions about what would work best from the content to the cover without exceeding my budget. The Outskirts print-on-demand service was quick and efficient in filling book orders. I would not consider working with any other publisher again.”
