ebook Guide: Apple gets an ‘F’ grade for iBookstore

All author Dave Lieber wanted for Christmas was for his book to get published on the iPad.

For two months, he tried to work with Apple, keeping a detailed record of his dealings.  But with Christmas days away, it appears the award-winning book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, isn’t going to be available through Apple. At least not yet.

Turns out Apple’s procedures for working with small publishers are so poorly organized that they are an embarrassment to this great, ground-breaking company. The company can’t seem to do what other ebook publishers do every day: place digital books on sale.

Here’s the new Dave Lieber Guide to ebook Self Publishing with the latest information on how to publish on Apple (not) and the other major ebook companies, which are easier:

My research on Apple was done as part of the creation of this ebook publishing guide. When I decided a few months ago to jump into this rapidly-growing market, I searched the Internet for an up-to-date guide showing  how to do it yourself, who to contact and what the difficulties are.

Couldn’t find one.

So I made my own – for you — because I believe every writer should live his or her dream. That’s what I’ve always taught authors as part of my popular Dave Lieber Guide to Self-Publishing. I show how to publish without the major publishing houses or the vanity presses taking all your profits.

More than a dozen books have been published by other authors who used my self-publishing system because they wanted to make more money. Now I want to lear how to do the same with ebooks. And, as always, I want to share the latest information that I learn with you. It’s here now, below, for free.

My goal was to take Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong and convert it to the proper e-book formats. Then I wanted to upload them to the top ebook pubishers: Apple’s iBookstore; Barnes & Noble, Borders and Amazon’s Kindle. These four represent about 60 percent of the ebook market.

Important: You don’t need a physical book to create an ebook. You can skip that step and publish straight to ebook.

First, you need an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) for your ebook (separate from the ISBN you used for your printed book). You can buy the numbers from bowker.com either singly or in a group of 10 or larger. I suggest the bigger purchase since the price is better (around $200 for 10) and once you get your ebook business going, you won’t want to stop. (Note: Bowker tells customers to buy a separate ISBN number for each ebook file format; but I found that not to be the case.)

Next you have to get the book formatted the way it will appear on the screen. All ebooks must start as a Microsoft Word document. (I hired my book designer Janet Long to copy and paste the original book from her files into a Word doc.)

Checked with publishing expert Jerry Simmons, who creates the popular www.writersreaders.com website. He recommended firebirdwebdesigns.com to convert my Word document into the various formats. (Remember there’s no standardization in the industry; different ebook readers require different formats. Ugh.)

For less than $300, my Word doc was converted to these formats: PDB (Palm Database File); PDF, Mobi, LRF, ePub (the evolving standard), PRC (Palm Resource File) and HTML.

Firebird provided me with a starter sheet, too. Several of the platforms listed were no-go’s for me. I couldn’t make contact, let alone get e-published with Mobi Pocket Reader, Sony Reader, Microsoft Reader and Adobe Digital Editions. But they aren’t part of the top four anyway. Here’s how it worked with the major publishers  — and my grade for them:

Amazon.com/Kindle

Start the process at dtp.amazon.com. Open your account and provide bank account information for sales proceeds. Watch an instructional video at http://bit.ly/AmazonKindleVideo.

Uploading the file is easy. My submission was quickly accepted and placed on sale. There was one slight problem. The “Buy it on Kindle” label next to my hardcover book, also for sale on Amazon, was linked to the out-of-print 2008 edition and not the actual 2010 edition it’s based on. Eventually, after two tries, I got it fixed.

Grade: A

 

Yippee! Dave Lieber's book was published with the greatest of ease on Amazon's Kindle.

Apple/iBookstore

For degree of difficulty, Apple is as tough as Amazon is easy. Getting to the point, Apple has earned a failing grade. Why? Let me count the ways.

Information about the ebook process on Apple’s website is nearly impossible to find. When you call customer service, staffers don’t know much either. Apple is not responding to e-mail requests for help or information either.

But I kept calling and writing. When I finally got in the front door, I learned you must upload your book on a MAC, not a PC, using Apple’s iTunes Producer software. I borrowed a friend’s MAC.

After the upload, Apple did not acknowledge its arrival. My book was listed as “Pending” for a month, and nobody in Apple would answer my e-mails. Finally, it was listed as “Removed From Sale.” Apple never notified me.  Finally, when I pestered for an answer, Apple, taking its sweet time, alerted me that my cover image was too small.

It’s clear that Apple wasn’t ready to enter the book business. It got slammed, fell behind and keeps changing the way it runs this new business. I’m patient. I really want my book available on the iPad. That’s why I started this process. But as of this writing, no can do.

Learn about the process at apple.com/itunes/content-providers. To get the iBookstore Publisher User Guide and create an account, start at itunes.com/sellyourbooks. If you have problems, call 1-800-275-2273 and ask for a “senior adviser.” Or try this e-mail address: itunesmarketing@apple.com.

Grade: F

Barnes & Noble/NOOKbook

Gosh, this was easy. I opened an account at pubit.barnesandnoble.com, uploaded the book and it was immediately for sale on the website as a NOOKbook. Apple could take a few lessons from this enterprise. (E-mail help is available at support@ereader.com)

Grade: A+

Borders/Kobo

Kobo (the Borders platform) rejected me outright because they require vendors to have “a minimum of 10 titles.” A kobo.com staffer wrote me, “We have been known to settle for 9 or even 8 titles; however the point here is that the work required on your part and on ours to get set up as a vendor doesn’t always make sense for a small handful of titles.”

Grade: Incomplete

The Alternative

If you don’t want to do it yourself, “digital aggregator” companies can help you. The best-known is smashwords.com. Other digital aggregators include authorsolutions.com, fastpencil.com and ebookit.com. I can’t vouch for them, but wanted to present them to you as options.

Happy e-publishing.

Dave Lieber is an investigative columnist at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. This story appears on columnists.com, National Speakers Association blog and WatchdogNation.com. Find him on Twitter @DaveLieber and WatchdogNation.com. If you want to self-publish in either a hardback or paperback, creating your own company, doing it yourself with a great publishing house, you should check out the Dave Lieber Self-Publishing Guide.

Chris Brogan’s Social Media Advice for Authors

Social media maven, blogger, and author, Chris Brogan

Prior to Web 2.0, NSA members had very traditional channels in which to market their books. Now, the ballgame is entirely different. With the advent of social media, authors can reach out to countless potential buyers, journalists, and other bloggers, in addition to building their speaker brands online.

In a recent blog post, social media maven, Chris Brogan, shares 19 tips authors can use when promoting their books through social media. Take note.

Do you have any tips to add to his list?

Beware! New Scam Targeting Speakers

We recently received notice from one of our members about a new scam targeted at speakers. To help you avoid getting caught in this, please read and click the link below to find out more about the scam and how you can avoid it.

Message from NSA Member
BEWARE of anyone wanting to immediately book you for a keynote involving
a youth leadership, business and management seminar at a legit London university.
Follow this link for many more examples and my own posting:

http://www.engageselling.com/blog/?p=1137
Warning: Speak Scam on the loose!

Special NSA University Webinar Discount (for NSA members only)

Presenter: Stephen Tweed, CSP
Date: March 8, 2010
Time: 10:00 PST/11:00 MST/12:00 CST/1:00 EST
Title: Book More Speeches: Using Multiple Streams of Revenue to Sell More Speaking Engagements

Stephen Tweed has spent the past 25 years speaking, writing, and consulting in the home health care industry. He has become the “guru” of strategy and business development in this fast growing niche market. In this interactive Webinar, Stephen will demonstrate how he has built a business with seven distinct revenue streams, and how his visibility in this market sector makes it easier to sell repeat speaking engagements to associations and corporations in this marketplace.

Participants will learn:
-Determine the right number of speeches per year.
-Apply Stephen’s Business Model Matrix.
-Define multiple streams of revenue for your business model.
-Examine marketing methods for multiple streams of revenue.
-Measure and manage your business success.

Webinars are regularly $39 but with the $10 coupon code, NSA members can register for just $29!

 

Register for Stephen’s Webinar at http://nsauniversity.org/AvailableToday/StephenTweedCSP.aspx.

Top Ten Ways For the Entrepreneurial Speaker to Improve Joint Venture Success

While National Entrepreneurship Week falls in the last week of February in the USA, and the rest of the world who celebrates it, does so in November. This year may find the timing ripe to have entrepreneurs save economies around with the world, with joint ventures, and speakers are in one of the best positions for this. Whether it’s labeled joint venture, partnering, collaboration or cross-promotion, here are ten ways to get started:

Amazing Race

Hello  NSA  family!  The 2010 Amazing Race will feature the daughter of Major Ben Brooks and Dr. Barbara Collins, Monique Pryor and her friend and team mate, Shawne Morgan.  Their profiles can be seen on http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race/.  The program is scheduled to begin airing on February 14, 2010, 8:00 PM, CBS.

Business leaders thrive with the National Speakers Association

NSA President-Elect, Kristin Arnold, MBA, CPF, CMC, CSP,  interviewed by Scottsdale Women’s Business Examiner.

View the article here http://www.examiner.com/x-33504-Scottsdale-Womens-Business-Examiner~y2010m1d19-Business-leaders-thrive-with-the-National-Speakers-Association.

Branding or Marketing? Article in Speaker Mag Has It All Wrong

Have you read the article entitled, “Branding or Marketing?” in the January/February 2010 issue of Speaker magazine? With all due respect to the writer, Michael A. Podolinsky, perhaps he should stick to his specialty in leadership development, not branding.

Of course, people and service businesses can have brands! What’s a brand anyway? I don’t think it’s what Podolinsky thinks it is. Here’s Seth Godin’s definition:

A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. If the consumer (whether it’s a business, a buyer, a voter or a donor) doesn’t pay a premium, make a selection or spread the word, then no brand value exists for that consumer.

Any product, service, or individual can have a brand. From Tide detergent, Starbucks coffee, Roto Rooter, Merrill Lynch, Oprah, Tiger Woods… OK, so maybe that last one isn’t as strong a brand as it was. But, they are all brands.

In the speaker world, there are many people who have very positive and strong brands – Tony Robbins and Zig Zigler come to mind.

Every touchpoint is part of a speaker’s brand. Examples include:

• How responsive the speaker is to prospect/client calls and emails
• How professional in appearance the speaker’s Web site and marketing materials are
• How professional the speaker is during the booking process
• How the speaker greets the meeting planner and audience members
• How effective, professional, prepared, and well received the speaker is during the presentation
• How the speaker follows up after the engagement

Every single aspect of a speaker’s business is part of his/her brand, even if s/he isn’t a celebrity. When speakers build a strong brand over time, bookings are more inbound. Planners come to them! That’s the ultimate branding result for any product, service or person.

So, no offense to Mr. Podolinsky, but when he says, “Branding works for products like soup or tampons, but not for people – and definitely not for service businesses,” I wholeheartedly DISAGREE!

Do you?

The best speaker I ever saw

By Dave Lieber

www.YankeeCowboy.com

Photo courtesy of South Dakota magazine

The best public speaker I’ve seen is Garrison Keillor. He has a great voice, a great mind, a great memory and, of course, those eyebrows!

He appeared at the University of Texas at Arlington in late November. The host of the legendary public radio show Prairie Home Companion, author and newspaper columnist had canceled a previous appearance after a mild stroke. He said doctors told him to slow down and retire. The heck with that. He travels the country telling stories and selling books.

Here are 10 things Keillor did that night in Arlington that help make him one of the finest speakers in the world today:

1. His clothes sparkled. Even though I was in the upper tier and he looked like a Ken doll on stage, he stood out because he wore a bright red tie and red sneakers, along with his dark suit and white shirt.

2. He sang his own introduction.

3. He quickly flattered his audience: “I never felt more welcome than when I get to meet Texans in Texas.”

4. Throw in a reference to a local luminary to let the audience know you share reverence for one of their local heroes. He cited the late Molly Ivins.

5. Speak in sparse yet sharp language: “It was the most wonderful wake I ever attended, and the deceased was sitting right there.”

6. Self-deprecation whenever possible: “It’s my role to play a taciturn Norwegian – although I’m not really one.”

7. Use visual images punctuated with quippy lines: “Snow was a lot deeper when I was a kid.”

8. Introduce characters with strong imagery: “My father  was a low-thermostat man.”

9. Follow up introductory descriptions with more visual imagery to enhance your portrait: “If you couldn’t see steam coming out of your mouth, he thought you were wasting fuel.”

10. Use life experiences, especially recent ones, to show your hero’s journey: “In my case, I got lucky. This blood clot hit the part of the brain where not much is going on…. It was the North Dakota of the brain.”

Final notes: His closing was superb. During the question and answer period, someone asked, “Do you rehearse your material?”

He answered, “I don’t have to rehearse. I lived it. Life is the rehearsal. All you have to do is remember as much as you can.”

Then he said, “I will now sign autographs. I have a nice signature, very legible. I’m happy to have pictures taken, if that’s what you want, although I can see why you wouldn’t.”

The American literary superstar concluded by promising that he would “hang out and talk” until no one from the audience remained.

I imagined him helping to turn off the lights and lock the door.  It was a powerful commitment to his audience that I’ve never heard a star of his magnitude make before.

Dave Lieber is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and a member of NSA/North Texas.

Two Must-Have Gifts to Yourself for 2010

By Dave Lieber

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Columnist

|| New works by Jana Stanfield and David Avrin ||

Two National Speakers Association favorites have released gifts that speakers should treat themselves to before crafting your 2010 New Year’s speaker resolutions. Both will make you smarter and more agile as you confront whatever changes and opportunities come your way in 2010.

Supreme musical motivator Jana Stanfield, returning from time away in Asia working with orphanages, has released a two-CD set called “What Would You Do This Year If You Had No Fear?” Her work ought to be considered her own personal Sgt. Pepper’s album because of the variety of musical styles she displays and for her vision of what’s next in life.

David Avrin's new book

Jana Stanfield's new album

Hers is a fully-formed album that lives up to its title’s promise. It’s also lots of fun.

Visibility Coach David Avrin of Colorado, known throughout NSA as someone who happily shares his ideas with others, has released a book, It’s Not Who You Know/It’s Who Knows You! (Publisher, John Wiley & Sons.) His is a “small business guide to raising your profits and raising your profile.” Using stories rather than bullet points, Avrin breaks down image-building barriers with simple ideas and solutions. Avrin’s passion becomes your motivator, something he and Stanfield both have mastered.

# # #

Give Stanfield credit for making a leap in her two-CD set:

Disc No. 1 — called “Stay Brave, Do Good, Feel Better” — reflects her agility in all facets of pop — folk, rock, country — that enables her to inspire so many with her upbeat life outlook. Here, she takes her classic “If I Were Brave” song and ramps up the theme across the entire CD about who you are and what you want to do. The music, like her tremendous keynotes, opens up possibilities for you in the most personal of ways.

Disc No. 2 — “The Wilder Side Dance Mix” — is quite something else, even by Stanfield’s innovative standards. Most of the songs are modern techno-pop tunes with pulsating beats designed for either dancing or aerobics class. It’s Stanfield on steroids, and the music and the vocals (although they often don’t sound like her) definitely work to the listeners’ advantage because of the album’s high quality.

So while one CD is more traditional, the other, as Stanfield writes in the liner notes, consists of songs that were “created as ‘affirmatunes’ for a self-empowerment system called I AM Power. With Matt Wilder as producer, these ‘trance-formational’ songs are designed for repeated listenings, to help you stay brave, do good, and feel better.”

The combined package could serve as the soundtrack to the Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love that Stanfield admires so much. Stanfield asks listeners to “take action.” Women will adore her latest, but men shouldn’t back off. Stanfield touches hearts, both male and female, with titles such as Learning to Fly Mid-Air, If I Had No Fear, and her newest stunner, George Bailey.

The character from It’s A Wonderful Life, she sings so perfectly, is a “guy standing on a bridge, seeing all he ever wanted, all the things he never did, missing every minute of the life he never lived.”

Sample chorus:

“I don’t want to be George Bailey waiting, waiting, waiting for the right time, for a clear sign.”

“Even if I make mistakes, it’s time I do whatever it takes.”

Good thing Stanfield didn’t wait to give us What Would You Do This Year If You Had No Fear? She returned home from overseas and offers her most fearless work yet.

# # #

As Stanfield is like no other “singing speaker,” David Avrin is like few other branding experts. What sets him apart from most image evangelists is that your excitement becomes his excitement and vice versa. He brings a little heart and soul to the creative process because he cares. He can instantly target the strengths he needs to promote, the weaknesses he needs to overcome and the values he wants to share. He understands, to use his branding term, visibility.

Branding powers, the ability to help others see what you are doing in such a quick and clear way that no further explanation is needed, are a gift. You either got ‘em or you don’t. Not everybody is a Don Draper or David Avrin.

For those of us who need help to come up with our phrases and descriptors, it’s a wonder to watch people like Arvin who get it so effortlessly and see things in you that you never noticed before.

The Avrins of the world can fix our problems, showcase our talents, and enable our dreams. Personally, other than customers, I don’t need much more.

His book (forward by Joe Calloway) is aimed at small businesses — speakers, lawyers, doctors, plumbers — but it’s not a business how-to book. Instead, the book is Avrin’s version of a Stanfield album.

“My goal,” he writes, “is to kick you in the pants to dig deeper for better marketing messages and strategies to grow your business.”

And following his own advice, here’s how he brands his own book:

He calls it an “open-to-any-page, stick-it-in-your-bathroom, pearls of wisdom, nuggets of marketing brilliance, best-practice, story-laden book filled with short essays and observations to help you recognize clever personal and professional marketing strategies and creative promotional tactics to help you be seen, be remembered and become the go-to resource for people looking for what you’re selling.”

Phew.

So I played his little game. I took the book into the bathroom and opened the book to any page seeking my pearl, my nugget, his brilliance.

On that page, he wrote about something I had done and wondered, in my case, if it was worth it. Why? Nobody ever noticed that I did it.

His subject was appearances on a city’s cable TV program. I’ve done a dozen and not once has anyone ever said, “I saw you on that.”

Well, Avrin explains that he is hooked on the guy who paints trees on his community access channel. He can’t skip past the tree painter when he’s going to a real channel. The guy is mesmerizing.

Avrin writes that these appearances on little-watched TV channels are good for you because: 1) you get practice time, 2) you gain new video footage, and 3) “you never know who’s watching.”

My suggestion, though, is that, his branding aside, this is more than a bathroom book. Like Avrin, it’s an idea generator. And as both Avrin and Stanfield show in their latest works, there’s little better than that.

# # #

Avrin’s book and Stanfield’s album.

Read one and listen to the other; you’re set for 2010

Full disclosure: Author Dave Lieber uses portions of Jana Stanfield’s music, with her permission, on his Web site at http://www.WatchdogNation.com.