2008 Christmas Holiday Story Writing Contest

WWAOW is sponsoring a Christmas holiday story writing contest on PublishYourself.com. Grand Prize winner will receive $250. Top 10 stories will be included in a compilation book and each winner will receive a free copy.

The Christmas holidays are the inspiration for stories all over the world. Submit your own Christmas, holiday or winter story or poem and be eligible to be included in our holiday story book, to be published in Jan. 2009. Once you submit your story, be sure to tell your friends and family. Winners will be decided by visitor voting on the PublishYourself.com site.

Register for a free account to upload your story and to be eligible to vote for your favorites.

Good luck!

WWAOW author Wade Younger on Dr. Phil show

Wade Younger, author of Moon Cussers, discusses his abusive childhood during the first episode of Dr. Phil's Get Real Retreat. Having been abused by several adults as a child, Wade lived through a "horrific" childhood that even resulted in the end of his marriage.

Read what Wade had to say on Get Real Retreat episode 1.

Moon Cussers tells of the true life journey of Wade Younger’s search for himself in order to find healing and resolution from his sexual childhood abuse. He outlines and offers insight, inspiration and strategies for putting past sexual child abuse behind you. Moon Cussers is for survivors needing to find peace and serenity, for parents and couples who have to deal with the residue of past pains left behind from abuse.

Moon Cusssers by Wade Younger Is Available on WWAOW

Moon Cussers tells of the true life journey of Wade Younger's search for himself in order to find healing and resolution from his sexual childhood abuse. His saga started at the age of four and developed into a series of emotional and mental tragedies. He discovers a gateway of healing from a damaged past that culminates into a courageous presence. He outlines and offers insight, inspiration and strategies for putting past sexual child abuse behind you. Moon Cussers is for survivors needing to find peace and serenity, for parents and couples who have to deal with the residue of past pains left behind from abuse.

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Wade Younger has been a conference speaker, teaching people to transform potential into peak performance since the early nineties. Moon Cussers is the latest of Younger's books. "I wanted to speak out for all men who suffer in silence. Sexual child abuse kills souls like guns kill in war." He is an instructor at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and currently lives in Charlotte.

Buy Moon Cussers by Wade Younger

2008 Halloween Story Contest Winners

The WWAOW PublishYourself.com 2008 Halloween Story Writing Contest winners have been decided!

Congratulations to Grand Prize winner Dale Moses author of Quiet. Dale competed against 42 other Halloween stories and poems for a chance to win $250 and get his story published in a horror story compilation book along with the other entries.

The top finalists by vote count were:

Dale Moses	Quiet
Jeffrey Burandt	Ghost Story
N Bradbury	My Dark
Joe Prentis	Sometimes They Gurgle
Bobbie Louise Apel	Mommy
Darrell Sinyard	The Cave-in
Shelby Dollar	Smoke
Phoebe Valdez	The Nightmare
Elizabeth Sparenberg	Revolution
Josh Black	Via Nihilum

Thanks to all of the authors that submitted and to all of the visitors who voted.

Be sure to keep an eye out for the WWAOW PublishYourself.com Christmas Story contest coming soon!

Free Halloween Story Contest - $250 Grand Prize

That's right, there is no charge to enter, and you can submit as many stories and poems as you like. Worldwide Alliance of Writers is launching our first horror writing contest on PublishYourself.com, and we are looking for some stories to get things rolling.

The rules are simple:

• Upload as many stories and poems as you like
• Deadline Oct. 15, 2008
• All Entries must be between 1,500 and 6,000 words (or about 5-20 pages)
• Submit only Word or Text Formats (no scans or PDFs)
• Keep it CLEAN - Nothing obscene will be considered
• The top winner will receive a grand prize of $250. The top 10 stories (by vote count) will be included in a compilation book that will be published on WWAOW.com.
• Top 10 winners will receive a complimentary copy of the compilation book.
• Submitting is easy. Just create a FREE ACCOUNT HERE, and then follow the step by step instructions to upload your work.

You can learn more about self publishing books at http://www.wwaow.com/.

Self-Publishing “Gotchas”

Thinking about self-publishing your book? Great!

But be careful. There are a number of “Gotchas” you should watch out for:

Paying for Services You Don’t Need – Many vanity publishers will sell you a package of services you probably don’t need – and may be performed by junior-level people who don’t know much about preparing a book for publication. It is ok to pay for an editor or a cover designer, if that is what you want, but it is important to interview these people individually and find someone with expertise in your field – someone with a proven track record. If a publisher is requiring you to pay for an editor, and they only allow you to use their staff, then it is probably a scam.

Make Sure You Get Books For Your Money – Too often “self-publishing” companies will sell you a package of services for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. You pay the money only to discover that you still don’t have any books. They cost extra. In fact it isn’t unusual at all for a self-published author to pay over a thousand dollars and only end up with ONE copy of his or her book. Make sure you know how many books you are going to get for your money before you type your credit card number into that website!

Distribution Promises – Many vanity publishers will promise book distribution. This is a sly deception. They cannot force a distribution company to accept your book or promote it to bookstores. All they can do is make it available. When they promise to put your book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, they aren’t doing anything you couldn’t do yourself for much less money. Without promotion, distribution means very little. Which brings us to our next point…

Promotional Services – If someone promises to be able to make your book a best seller before he or she ever sees your book, then that person is trying to scam you. No self-respecting book promoter is going to even accept a book to promote until he or she has had a chance to read it and research its marketability.

One of the great things about using WWAOW to get your first book published is that you only pay for the book production. There are no other fees or requirements. You can get several copies of your book printed up, and then take them around to book editors, agents, and marketers. You can even take them to bookstores, and sell them on consignment if you like.

While you are doing this, your book is also available for sale on the WWAOW website. This means you don’t have to wait months or even years for someone else to get around to publishing your book, and you don’t have to pay extra for services you don’t need.

You can learn more about self publishing books at http://www.wwaow.com/.

From Blogger to Author

It is becoming a common theme in the publishing industry. Bloggers who have a strong following online publish a book and become an instant success.

The formula makes sense. After all, as a blogger, you already have the content; and you already have the name recognition. Even better, you have hundreds, or even thousands of potential buyers coming across your website every day.

For a successful blogger, self publishing can be a great option. This is because one of the primary reasons many authors work with large publishing companies is to leverage their marketing capabilities.

But as a blogger, you already have access to your market. Why not monetize the site traffic, and keep all the profit?

There are plenty of examples of bloggers publishing books, and making huge money. Here are a few:

Marshall Brain began by writing informative articles on his website www.howstuffworks.com. The content from the website was later published into a book, and today the business generates over $20 million per year.

Christian Lander created a blog called StuffWhitePeopleLike.com. The site stats show over 33 million hits - which got Christian a $350,000 book deal from Random House this year. This kind of deal is something that anyone would like, no matter what color your skin happens to be.

And in 2003, Robert Lanham published "The Hipster's Handbook" and sold over 40,000 copies.

The trick, of course, is to get a huge following online. You'll need the traffic to sell the book. You also need to come up with a compelling reason for people to buy the book. After all, they are already reading your blog for free - why should they buy a paper book? Answer that question, and you could make millions.

You can learn more about self publishing books at http://www.wwaow.com/.

Famous Authors Who Have Self Published

If you listen to the conventional wisdom, you would believe that no real author self publishes; that all self published books are doomed to obscurity. Following is a list of authors who did it anyway.

For some of these people, when their books were turned away from the established publishing houses, they persevered. For others, the "experts" told them they had to modify their books, or drop their prices, or that it couldn't be marketed the way they wanted.

It's a good thing these Self published authors didn't listen to the conventional wisdom:

Scott Adams - Creator of Dilbert
Arthur Agatston - The South Beach Diet
Julie Clark - The Baby Einstein Company
John Audubon - The Birds of America
John Bartlett - Familiar Quotations
L. Frank Baum - Author of the Wizard of Oz
Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson - Co-authors of The One-Minute Manager
Marshall Brain - How Stuff Works
Amanda Brown - Legally Blonde
Edgar Rice Burroughs - Creator of Tarzan
E.E. Cummings - No Thanks
William E.B. DuBois - Founder of the NAACP
Alexandre Dumas - Author of The Three Musketeers
Arlene Eisenberg - What to Do When You're Expecting
T.S. Eliot - Nobel Prize Winning Poet
Howard Fast - Spartacus
Edward Fitzgerald - The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Benjamin Franklin - Poor Richard's Almanack, One of the Founders of the United States
Galileo Galilei - The Starry Messenger
Zane Grey - Author of over 60 Western Novels
Nathaniel Hawthorne - Author of The House of the Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter
Hugh Hefner - Self-published the first edition of Playboy
Ernest Hemmingway - Paid for his first novel to be printed
L. Ron Hubbard - Self-published Dianetics
James Joyce - Self-published Ulysses
Stephen King - Self published "The Plant" on his website in 2000
Robert Kiyosaki - Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Louis L'Amour - Smoke from This Alter
Herman Melville - Author of Moby Dick self-published several books of poetry
Richard Nixon - President of the United States, Self-published Real Peace
Thomas Paine - Self-published "Common Sense" to recruit soldiers for the American Revolution
Edgar Allen Poe - Author of "The Raven", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Beatrix Potter - The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Irma Rombauer - The Joy of Cooking
Henry David Thoreau - Self-published Walden
Mark Twain - Self-published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Noah Webster - Author of the First American Dictionary
Walt Whitman - Self-published "Leaves of Grass"
Virginia Woolf - Author of Mrs. Dalloway, To The Lighthouse, and Orlando
Tim and Nina Zagat - Self-published the Zagat Survey

And there are countless others. Many of the people on this list self published to jump-start their careers, then ended up with lucrative deals with major publishers.

You can learn more about self publishing books at http://www.wwaow.com/.

Print On-Demand Bet

One website, http://www.longbets.org/ has a system whereby members can bet on long-term social and scientific changes and developments. Back in 2002, member Jason Epstein predicted that by 2010, half of all books would be printed on demand in bookstores right at the cash register.

Challenger Vint Cerf took the bet and the two agreed on a wager of $2,000 (the winnings are donated to charity). Cerf’s argument wasn’t that books would continue to be produced in the same way. Rather, he contends that the market would settle on a digital distribution model. In other words, that people would read books on their laptops and PDAs.

We are now 18 months away from the conclusion of this bet. Who will win? Is it possible that neither prediction will come true?

Isn’t it interesting that neither of these bets takes serious consideration of the possibility of On-Demand printing by online book sellers?

You can voice your opinion at www.longbets.org/6.
Remember, you can always publish yourself at http://www.wwaow.com/!

What is Self-Publishing?

Self publishing simply means an author acts as his or her own publishing company to bring a book to market. Often, but not always, this means that the author wears all the hats: author, publisher, publicist, sales rep, distributor, and shipping clerk.

These can be extremely time-consuming tasks which is why many self publishing authors outsource some of these “jobs” to other organizations. They remain the legal owner of the book, but the tasks of selling and fulfilling orders, marketing and so forth are handled by others. This allows the author to focus on the task of writing books instead of tracking down shipments and dealing with collections.

Self publishing authors who publish with WWAOW do not have to worry about most of these activities because all aspects of the sales, printing, and fulfillment are handled by the WWAOW system. Authors simply write and market their work.
Learn more about self publishing at wwaow.com.

How Much Am I Going To Make On My Book?

Many self-publishing authors ask this question, and unfortunately the answer is difficult to predict. The truth is that your success as an author depends to a large degree on the following factors:

• The quality of your book
• The size of market for your book
• How well you are able to market and sell it

Book quality affects whether anyone is going to recommend your book to others. Reviewers and critics will only recommend a book if it is good. After all, their reputations are on the line.

The size of your market also plays an important role. Your niche may be the most exciting thing in the world to you, but you will sell more books if your niche happens to be “Mysteries” than if your niche happens to be “Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia.”

Thirdly, your sales and marketing capabilities will also play a role. If you master the techniques of book marketing, or you use your self-publishing experience to leverage a book deal with a major publishing house, then your book will do very well for you.

Keep in mind that you can use your books to make money in many more ways than simply selling them. Often, you can make more money by giving your books away than by selling them. Consultants often use this technique to attract consulting contracts. Professional authors also give away copies of their work to get writing gigs and columns in magazines, newspapers and websites.

The trick with self-publishing a book is to keep your eyes open to opportunities. Sometimes creativity in how you make your money is almost as important as the creativity you use to write your books!

Learn more about self-publishing at wwaow.com.

Copyrights – What if my Book Gets Picked Up By A Big Publishing House?

One of the questions we have been asked about WWAOW a number of times is the issue of Copyrights. Specifically, what if an author gets a book deal?

With WWAOW, if you get a book deal with a big publishing company, then you just sign and publish your book with them. Each author on the WWAOW system is, legally speaking, their own publishing company. This means when you publish your book through WWAOW, you own the copyright, and can sell it to whomever you please.

There is no need to do any paperwork with WWAOW about your Copyright.

Learn more about self-publishing at wwaow.com.

Hymnal Printing

Often churches and other religious organizations need to publish small quantities of books. Until recently, doing this was cost-prohibitive – especially for books that would only be used a few times within the church.

Now, with WWAOW, churches are finding that they have the ability to print seasonal publications and specialized Hymnals for church programs. The low-cost of small run publishing allows churches to not only create these specialized books, but also to turn them into a source of revenue as their members can purchase them online or in the church bookstore.

You can learn more about self publishing books at WWAOW.com

How Much Does It Cost To Self-Publish?

Answering this question is a lot like answering the question of how much does a diamond ring cost?

The answer? Between about $79 and “How high is your credit limit?”.

If you work through WWAOW, then you can upload your book at no cost. Making your book available for worldwide distribution requires you to purchase just five copies. So, the average cost is around $79.

Other services charge much more. Many self-publishing authors who use different services often pay as much as several thousand dollars just to get their book into the publishing company’s system. These fees generally do not include copies of the book. They cost extra.

Learn more about Self Publishing at WWAOW.com!

Book Publishing and Profits for the Church

If you work for a Church or are in charge of a Church’s publications, then you have an excellent way to increase revenues for your organization – by publishing books!

Right now, many churches sell DVDs and tapes of their services. This makes sense because it is very easy to make just a few DVDs or tapes at a time. As they sell, you can make more using a home computer or VCR.

Now with WWAOW, it is possible to make books on-demand – the same way you do now with your video offerings. In fact, offering the video as well as book formats in a package is one of the most popular ways of delivering your organization’s message!

Here are some great ideas of ways your Church organization can use books:

• Offer books as a way increase donations and to offer as gifts at fundraisers
• Create workbooks and daily devotions books for members to use during the week
• Create a “Welcome Book” for new members to welcome them into the church and provide them with some background information and history of the church
• Package videos of sermons with your books so your members have both
• Create custom Hymnals – even incorporating more modern music, and music that is written by your choir and members!
  

Book Formatting – Can I Do It Myself?

Formatting your own book for publishing on WWAOW is incredibly easy. Just follow these three steps:

1. Set the Document Dimensions and Margins
2. Set up your Styles and Apply Them
3. Add Sections and Breaks to your Book

Now, we’ll explain each of these points in detail:

Set the Document Dimensions and Margins

The first thing you do is go to File => Page Setup. This will bring up your Page Setup screen. Like this:

You set up your Paper size (6x9 is the most popular), then your Margins and Layout tabs. Make sure to apply your changes to the “whole document”, not “Selected Text”.

Set up Your Styles and Apply Them

Now, go to Format => Styles and Formatting. This will bring up your list of Styles. Like this:

By Clicking on the drop arrow next to each format, you can modify the Font face, size and other attributes. Keep in mind that it is usually best for your Normal text to be a Serif font like Times, whereas Headings and Sub Heads usually use a Sans Serif Font like Arial.

If you are publishing on WWAOW then the fonts supported are:

• Arial
• Courier new
• Georgia
• Times new roman
• Trebuchet
• Verdana

Once you have your styles set up, all you have to do is select the text you want to apply a style to and then click on the appropriate style (as shown above).

The biggest reason to do this is that if you decide later on you want to change the look of your book, all you have to do is change the setting in your Style’s, and your entire book will be instantly updated!

Add Sections and Breaks to Your Book

If you have been working with long texts in Word before, then you know it’s virtually impossible to use the “Enter” key to get all your Chapters to start on their own pages. That’s because if you make any changes at the front of the document, then all the other pages will shift, and then you have to go back through the entire book to fix them.

That’s why you should add Section Breaks for each Chapter of your book. This keeps everything flowing correctly. Here’s how to do it:

1. Place your curser at the end of each Chapter.
2. Go to Insert => Break (The Break Screen will display as above).
3. Select “Continuous”, then Click “Ok”
4. Now, Go to Insert => Break again
5. This time select “Page Break” and click “Ok”

This will insert a section break, and then a page break in your document; allowing you to edit content anywhere in your Word document without worrying about how the Chapters will flow.

By creating the Section Break using the “Continuous” option, you give yourself the ability to create custom headers and footers for each Chapter.

So, you see. With a little finesse, you can make great-looking books without paying an expensive designer to typeset your book for you.

Website for Your Book

Should you build a website for your book?

Of course you should! In fact, there are few things that can help you sell more books than to have a website dedicated to your book’s success.

If you’ve never built a website before, then this may seem like a daunting task. Fortunately, building a website for your book is extremely easy and FREE!

Here’s how to do it:

1. Create an account on Google’s Blogger system (https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?service=blogger). It is important to think about your blog’s name because it will appear like this: yourblog.blogspot.com. So, if the name of your book is “The Happy Chef”, then you might name your blog thehappychef.blogspot.com.
2. Once you have created your account, go to the Dashboard for your blog and click on the “Layout” link. You can customize the look of your blog here by clicking the “Pick a New Template” link.
3. Now, you can start putting content on your website. This is easy. Just click on the “+ New Post” link on your dashboard and start writing! You can format your text, add pictures, insert hyperlinks to make everything look like you want.
4. When you have finished your first post, just click on the Publish button, and it will show up on your site!

There are a number of other Blogging systems out there if you prefer to work with something else. A couple others you might investigate are Wordpress and Typepad.

Regardless of the system you choose, there is no reason to spend a lot of money (or a lot of time) building a website. The most important thing is to go ahead and do it!

Once you have a website, you have a platform you can use to promote your books with advertising and word-of-mouth marketing techniques.

Learn more about how to promote your book at http://www.wwaow.com/!

God and Publishing

Considering publishing a book? What about a book about religion?

If you've been thinking about publishing a religious book, then you are not alone. Religious publications have exploded in recent years. In fact, according to BookWire, the number of new titles published under the religious category increased 298% between 1993 and 2004 - more than twice the growth rate of all other categories.

In fact, according to the American Association of Publishers, sales of religious books increased 50% during 2003 alone.

Divine intervention? Not necessarily. According to a 2004 article in the Christian Science Monitor, some of this growth can be attributed to self-reported figures from some of the largest publishing houses that have begun combining religious books and self-help books into the same category.

Why would they do this? Because it helps them sell more books of course!
Many self-published authors recognize the potential of religious publishing. Ever since the explosive popularity of Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life with more than 20 million copies sold, many publishing companies have jumped on the religious publication bandwagon, and begun to actively seek religious books to add to their catalogs. In fact, some publishing industry analysts have found it necessary to pull the sales figures of Rick Warren's books out of their data because they skew the entire sector!

Wow, that is successful. But, what does it mean to you?

Even if your book is not directly religious in the traditional sense. It may sell well within the religious community. Just as large publishing houses have begun re-branding the self-help category into the religious one, you can too.

After all, one of the keys to selling more books is to broaden the scope of the market you sell to; and religion is billions of people strong!

Using the Internet to Increase Your Book Sales

The Internet has a number of great resources you can use immediately to promote your book. Some, in fact many, are even free!

First, you will want to make use of some of the book listing services and directories out there. One great resource for finding places to list your book can be found at: http://www.ioba.org/newsletter/archive/v16/manley.php. Use this as a jumping off point to other listing services. Remember, the more places people can find references to your book the more likely they will be to consider buying it.

Secondly, you can get some great traction for your book by starting up a blog at www.wordpress.com or www.blogspot.com, or any of a host of others.

Thirdly, you can promote your book and your blog by sending out press releases whenever you have a new item to announce. This can be a great way to enhance the popularity of your existing web presence, as well as give a short-term boost to your web site's traffic. A few worthy sites to consider for sending press releases: http://www.prweb.com/, http://www.businesswire.com/, and http://www.prnewswire.com/.

For even more ideas on boosting your book sales online, check out our article on the Ten Quick and Inexpensive Things You Can Do to Promote Your Book.

How Do I Publish Myself?

This may seem like a strange question to come from a self-publishing company, but it's the question we get asked the most. So, here's how to publish your own book:

The first step in publishing your book is to think about the format. Do you want to sell a paperback or hardback book? How big should it be? Do you want your readers to be able to fit it in their pockets? Perhaps it is more of a "coffee-table" book? The most popular books sizes are 6 x 9 and 8.5 x 11. Children's books often are a perfect square at 8.27 x 8.27.

Once you have answered these questions, you can then use any word processing program to layout your book. Many self-published authors use Microsoft Word to do this, but you can use any program that can save your document in Word or PDF format.

No matter what program you use, you will want to go into the "Page Setup" utility and specify the size of the final document you intend to make. Set the margins so that you leave enough space for the paper to fit into the spine of the book (at least an inch or so), and also enough room around the sides so the text doesn't crowd too close to the edge of the book.

You will also want to consider what you want your book's cover to look like. Does it need to have a special picture on the front? Perhaps a simple background color or design is more appropriate.
You can use Adobe Photoshop (you can download a free 30-day trial of Adobe Photoshop here) to design your cover or you can use the built-in cover editor available on http://www.wwaow.com/ to design your book's cover. Remember, people really DO judge books by their covers, so you will want to make sure you put your best foot forward in this regard.

You will also want to write up a short biography of yourself and a short description of your book that we will use to sell your book.

Finally, you need to go through the upload wizard on http://www.wwaow.com/. The step-by-step process helps you determine what you need to do in order to make a great looking book.

Learn more about how to publish yourself at http://www.wwaow.com/!

Designing My Book Cover Art

If you are publishing your own book, then you can save lots of money by designing your own cover. For most people with little or no design experience, this can seem like a daunting task.

If you are using WWAOW to publish your book, then it is an extremely easy thing to simply follow the publishing Wizard to make your design. If you are using another system, then you will need to follow these steps:

• Get a good layout program - Adobe products are often used for this type of work. You can download a free trial of Adobe Photoshop from Adobe.com. The free trial lasts for 30 days, which is plenty of time to get your cover finished.
• Ask your printer for specs - WWAOW provides the dimensions you need for your book on the design wizard. If you are using another company to do your printing, you will need to know the file requirements.
• Make sure you are creating the file in the right format. There is a difference between a file saved in CMYK and RGB. Depending on your design, your printer may ask you to specify "Spot" colors. Make sure if your quote was for a 2-color print job, that you are not handing your printing company 4-color artwork!

Most often, a simple design is best - especially for newbies. A simple picture downloaded from a website like Comstock or Getty Images with a Title on a flat field of color is usually all a book needs. Make sure you include the author (your) name on the cover as well.

If you are selling your book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com or through other retailers, you will also need to design a place for the barcode and ISBN numbers. Make sure you consult with their requirements as you work on your cover.

How Can I Get Press for my Book?

Press coverage for a book can be the most powerful tool to generate sales. That is because journalistic coverage is trusted much more than advertisements, and it is free.

Getting journalists to talk about your book, however, is not an easy task. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of books published each year in the United States alone, and many more worldwide. All of these authors, publishers, and publicists are competing for attention with the same journalists and editors.

So, how do you get your message heard above the "chatter"?

The first step is to develop a press release. A press release allows you to cast a wide net to thousands of journalists all over the country. But don't stop there!

Next you need to pick up the phone and personally contact editors and journalists that cover your topics. Your goal is to let them know you exist, and to make yourself available for interviews. If you don't like to use the phone, use your email, but reach out to as many journalists as you can.

It is a good idea to ask editors if they have an editorial calendar, and then to respect their calendar by providing them information that is relevant to their articles in a timely manner. Keep in mind that many publications create their articles well in advance of their publication dates. So, get your stuff to them in plenty of time.

You will have to reach out to dozens of journalists before you will get your first "hit". But once you start getting coverage, you will find that it becomes much easier to get more in the future. So, don't give up. Persistence is the key.

You can learn more about publishing a book by visiting www.wwaow.com

What do I need to watch out for when self publishing?

If you are considering self-publishing your book, then you should be aware of a couple pitfalls first time author’s fall victim to.

Buying Too Many Books Up-front
There is a famous cliché in the publishing industry that the first book that comes off the press is the most expensive. After all, the more you print, the less each book costs.

All too often beginning authors look at the “per book” charges on the quote and decide to print thousands of books before they have any idea how well their book will sell. That is too much risk!
The last thing you want is to end up with a garage full of books, and with today’s print on-demand technology there is no reason you should have to store, ship or invoice books, ever.

It is usually better to print a few dozen books - even if the initial cost per book ensures that you will not make money. Once you have gauged the demand for your book, you can always order more at lower unit cost. This lowers your initial risk, and lets you focus your money on the marketing side of your business.

Paying for Services You Don’t Need
The other major mistake many self-publishers make is paying for lots of services they do not need. The fact is that you can usually do most of the layout and design for your book yourself, or find a friend who is willing to help you for little or no cost.

It is true that people judge books by their covers, but this does not mean you need to spend thousands of dollars on an expensive designer. Many times, simpler is better, and a well-chosen picture with your book’s title across the top can be just as effective as an expensive design.

You know your market better than the designer does. You know what will appeal to them the most. Make your book look like the product they are searching for, and it will sell.

Other services you might consider doing yourself:

• Typeset your own book
• Market your own book
• Write your own Press Releases

Some self-publishing companies require that you work with their designers and editors. This makes sense because this is how most of them make their money.

WWAOW does not require you to use any particular designer or editor. In fact, Wwaow has a cover "library" and you can select your own cover at no additional cost. This allows you to enter the self-publishing market for a minimal expense. With Wwaow, five copies of your book total as little as $79.

What is Perfect Book Binding?

Perfect bound books are basically paperback books, although the term “perfect bound” is also used for magazines and other printed materials that use the same binding technique.

Perfect bound books are printed on large sheets of paper. Depending on the size of the book and the size of the press, each “sheet” of paper that moves through the press may contain as many as 8 pages on each side - or 16 final book pages. Therefore, a 300-page paperback may be printed on only 19 pieces of paper.

Once the sheets are printed, they are folded down and the side that will face into the spine is rough-cut. This rough edge allows the binding glue to adhere to the pages so they will not fall out.
Each sheet creates a section, and the sections are gathered together and glued to the cover.

Once all the sections are in place, the final book is trimmed - cutting off the folds and creating the separate pieces of paper that make up the pages of the final book.

The softcover books made by WWAOW are perfect bound books. You can learn more about how to publish a book at http://www.wwaow.com/.

Book Publishing

For many people the idea of publishing a book seems like a daunting task. From the author's perspective, simply writing a book is difficult enough. Add in the time and effort and technical experience required to properly produce and sell a book, and the whole process can seem overwhelming.

In reality, however, publishing a book is a lot like eating an elephant. You do it one bite at a time.

Once you break the process down into individual steps, what seemed like an insurmountable obstacle suddenly seems more like a staircase to your destination.

Keep in mind that you CAN publish your own book. And with WWAOW, the production and sales parts are taken care of for you. All you have to do is write the book, upload it, and market it.

Following are a couple of resources you may want to read to learn more about publishing your book:

• For information on uploading books to WWAOW, visit our FAQ page


• For information about marketing your book, visit our article on Ten Quick and Inexpensive Things You Can Do to Promote Your Book

Self Promoting Your Book

There is a lot of myth and hype regarding the promotion of books within publishing circles. While a professional can often get better results than someone without experience can, anyone can promote their own book by following a few simple steps. That's why we've put together WWAOW's Ten Quick and Inexpensive Things You Can Do to Promote Your Book page.

Oh, and by the way, you can do these things whether you self-publish, or work through a traditional publisher. In fact, publishers usually LOVE it when you promote your own book. After all, they make money off that.

Publishing Steps

Ok, so you’ve finished writing your book and you’re ready to publish it. What do you do now?

In the old days, you would print out (or type) your entire manuscript and send it in to a publisher with a cover letter asking them to publish your work. Those days are long gone.


Today, there are two paths to publication for most authors. The easiest and fastest method is to self publish (which is where WWAOW comes in). The other method is to contact a number of literary agents and try to find one who will represent you.



Getting a good literary agent to represent you is a complicated topic, and there are a number of books written on the subject. It involves writing proposals and sample chapters, doing a lot of research, and being prepared to network with a lot of people in order to find a good agent who is willing to represent you.



Once you have found a literary agent, he or she will work on selling your book to publishers. This can be a long and difficult process.



Assuming the agent finds a publisher who is willing to publish your book, you will then go through several phases of editing, and revision. The process of revision, production, and marketing typically takes 18 months or so. Once complete, the book is then available at book stores.



Fortunately the WWAOW path is much easier, and a whole lot faster. All you do is go to http://www.wwaow.com/, register your account, and then follow the steps in the upload wizard to get your book published instantly worldwide. The entire process takes just about 10 minutes.

Introducing WWAOW and the New Way to Self Publish

Welcome to the WWAOW blog. This blog will address many of the issues facing the new era of publishing – particularly the market segments involving self-publishing, niche publishing, and book marketing.

We welcome feedback, and will use your feedback as we develop additional content for the blog and the website. So, if you have questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@wwaow.com.