NINC

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Nink ~ Don’t Pants Your Career: Career Plotting For Mid-Level Authors

This article by Tara Wyatt is from the October 2021 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.  

When it comes to writing our books, some of us are pantsers—those who write by the seat of their pants without a solid outline to guide them—and some are plotters. Some of us are a combination of the two. There’s no one right way to write a book. In fact, if your method is resulting in completed projects that you’re happy with, I’d say it’s working for you.

However, when it comes to our careers, too many of us are pantsing it—moving forward without a plan, goal, or solid vision as to where we’d like to be six months, 12 months, or two years from now. While it’s perfectly acceptable to pants your books (I’ve written more than 20 books this way), you can’t pants your career.

If you’re unsure where to start when it comes to career planning, keep reading.

Organize your workflow
Before you start planning, first do some reflecting and analyzing. Creating an effective and realistic plan requires a level of self-awareness when it comes to not only your goals, but also your capacity and capabilities. Open a blank Word document or grab a journal, and answer the following questions:

  • How many books do I write a year, on average?
  • How long does it take me to write and edit each book?
  • Is my current pace sustainable? Could I do more? Should I do less? Where is my happy medium?

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. Answer them honestly, and pay attention to how you feel as you answer them. Don’t take on more than you know you can realistically handle, because that’s a sure path to burnout.

Once you have a clear picture of how many books you can comfortably release in a year, create a spreadsheet with a column along the top labeled “new releases.” Down the side, create a row for each month of the coming year. Now that you know how long it takes you to write a book, slot in your releases for the next 12 months. (Note: If planning this far ahead stresses you out or doesn’t work for you, cap it at six months).

Plan your promotions
Now that you have a clear picture of your upcoming release schedule, it’s time to plan your promotions around those releases.

When you have a new release, look for what’s similar in your backlist to promote. If you write in series, this could be an earlier book in that series. If you write standalones, it could be a book with the same or similar trope, setting, or overall theme. It’s up to you when you’d like to run the promotion—a few weeks before the release, during the release, immediately after the release. Experiment and find what works best for you. Discounting a backlist book creates a low barrier to entry into your series or your books, enticing new readers. This is especially helpful if the new release is a later book in a series, which is more difficult to market to new readers. By discounting an earlier book in the series, you reclaim some of that marketing power. Once you’ve selected the backlist title to promote in support of your new release, note how you plan to promote it. Will it be on sale for 99 cents? Temporarily free? How are you going to market the sale? Are you going to apply for a BookBub? Submit to other newsletters such as Robin Reads, Ereader News Today, or Fussy Librarian?

When you’ve selected your backlist promotions, create a new column in your spreadsheet called “Discounted Backlist Book” and slot in your planned promotions next to your new releases. Now you’ll have a clear picture of not only the new books you’re releasing, but the backlist books you’re going to promote to support them.

Marketing activities
Now that you know what new books you’ll be releasing as well as what discounted books you’ll be promoting in support of that release, it’s time to plan your other marketing activities. Take a look at what you currently do and/or enjoy doing when it comes to marketing. Some examples of marketing activities outside of a discounted book promotion include:

  • Social media: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter
  • Newsletter swaps with other authors
  • Cost-per-click ads on platforms such as Facebook, Amazon, and BookBub
  • Giveaways (joint giveaway with other authors, Goodreads giveaways)

Please note, I’m not saying that you should do all of these things. These are merely examples of marketing activities. What do you usually do? Is it working for you? How do you know? Analyze what you’ve done in the past to make the best possible decision for the future. When you’ve decided what marketing activities you’re going to undertake, create a new column in your spreadsheet called “Marketing” and slot in what you plan to do. It could be a Goodreads giveaway, a Facebook ad campaign, newsletter swaps with other authors in your genre, all of the above, or something entirely different. But figure out what you’ll be doing, and slot it in.

What if I’m a slow writer?
As we all know, the pace of the market is increasingly relentless. There are authors releasing a book a month, and if that’s the speed where you’re comfortable and fulfilled without burning out, power to you. However, many of us are not writing six, eight or 10 books a year, and that’s fine. If you only write one or two books a year, there are ways to boost your income and round out your calendar.

1. Rebrand an older book or series. If you have a series that isn’t selling well and is a few years old, consider putting new covers on the books (pay attention to what’s selling in your genre to make sure your covers are right for the market) and writing fresh blurbs. Then discount the first book to 99 cents or free and promote it as best you can. Freshening up an older series can attract new readers, especially if you treat the rebrand just like a new release, with cover reveals, a sale, and other activities you do to promote your new releases.

2. Write a free prequel to an existing series. Consider writing a short story or novella that serves as a prequel to an existing series. Adding content to a series and creating a new entry point can bring in new readers. You could also treat the prequel just like a new release. Because it’s shorter, it won’t take as long to write but will still help boost sales of that series.

3. Create box sets of existing content. If you have a multi-book series that’s at least five books long, you could create a box set of the first three books in the series and treat the release of the box set just like you would a new book. This box set can also act as an excellent promotional tool in the future. For example, if you have a new release in that series, you can offer the box set for 99 cents or $1.99 as your discounted book. You could also create a box set of three or four first-in-series books if you have multiple series to play with, and treat that box set like a new release as well.

If you don’t write in series, you could create a box set of two or three books with the same trope, theme, or even setting. Be creative! Another idea would be to team up with other authors in your genre and offer a multi-author box set for free for a limited time. This type of cross promotion is excellent for finding new readers.

4. Create audio versions of your books. This is a pricey option, to be sure, but audiobooks are a growing market. Creating audiobook versions of your backlist books is a way to find new readers, round out your release calendar, and diversify your income streams. However, it does come with a heavier investment than, say, putting together a box set. But it’s an option if you have the cash flow.

Putting it all together
You should now have a clear picture of the next year (or six months, or possibly even 18 if you like to plan that far ahead) and all of the big, important pieces. What new books are you releasing and when? What backlist promotions will you do to support those new releases? What other marketing activities are you planning?

You can customize your spreadsheet to reflect your workflow and plans. For example, some people create a separate column to track applying for BookBub Featured Deals. Others create a column for cover reveals, or series rebrands, or audiobook releases. It’s up to you how to use it. But I do encourage you to use it, even if you’re a pantser when it comes to your writing. With a little planning, strategy, and organization, it will be that much easier to grow your author career and take it to the next level.

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Tara Wyatt is an award-winning contemporary romance and romantic suspense author of more than 20 books. She lives near Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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Nink ~ Behind the Curtain: Talking Covers with Tordotcom’s Christine Foltzer & Indie Authors

This article, written by Patricia Burroughs is from the October 2021 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

Following up on my August 2021 Nink interview with Guido Carotti, senior designer at Harper Collins Mass Market Paperbacks, I interviewed Christine Foltzer, associate art director at Tordotcom Publishing. Then the voices of indie authors, who serve as their own art directors, were added to the mix.

In the beginning, marketing?
For Christine Foltzer, everything begins when she receives a cover memo from the book’s acquiring editor. The cover memo includes genre/subgenre, story summary, notes and/or visuals of locations, objects, characters, and comp covers of existing books that are representative of the mood, style, format, art, or other elements the author and editor like.

But before arriving in the art department, Tordotcom Marketing has already had input in the book’s future, including determining which catalog the book will be in—spring/summer, fall, or winter—and thus its publication date. Work on the cover begins about a year in advance.

Foltzer adds the book to her bullet-point list of upcoming books. Many NINC authors also recommend scheduling far in advance, for many designers are booked solid for months.

Some authors are so prolific they also have to keep their version of a bullet-point list to keep up with multiple covers at a time.

But marketing is always the priority.

The purpose of a book cover is to market the book, which means visibility to the target readers.

That’s where comp covers come in for the indie writers, too.

One NINC author spent “hundreds of hours” studying recent bestselling covers in her genre to find comps for the covers she DIYs herself. Again and again, our members stressed the importance of comp covers, of studying the competition, knowing which cover trends are current, and, most of all, understanding the common elements of your genre’s/subgenre’s covers.

Important and overlooked aspects of finding and choosing comp covers

  • They shouldn’t be written by authors whose names alone sell books. King, Rowling, Patterson, etc. Those books fall into an entirely different category.
  • They should be successful. You don’t want to emulate a cover with minimal sales and an unknown author. It’s already not working for them.
  • They must be in the exact genre/subgenre.

Too obvious? Not really. It’s easy to fall in love with a cover or a style and know it’s perfect for your story and want it—even though it fails the above tests. It’s even more common to dislike the cover conventions of a genre/subgenre and decide to use something to your own preference.

You’re the art director. And unless the author’s going to buy 100,000 copies of their own book, our authors overwhelmingly say, kick that “author” to the curb and let marketing rule the day.

Regrets, we have a few

NINC indies mourn the money and time squandered on covers that didn’t work yet could have had they understood the importance of genre conventions in a book’s visibility and sales.

Several authors ditched the bare chest covers common in romance. Low sales changed their minds, and with new covers sales have surged. Readers can now identify them as “their kind of book.”

The reverse can also be a problem. Without realizing it, some authors sent the wrong signals with their book covers. Reviewers told two authors that they expected a different kind of book from the cover. Coincidentally, both books—one a mystery and one a comic thriller—looked YA.

Book covers are labels, and readers expect to get what the label tells them is inside, whether authors like that labeling or not.

Foltzer shares cover ideas with editors, who consult their author. After adjustments and getting approval, Foltzer then starts the cover on its way to the actual art. She commissions original art for some, commissions freelance book designers for others, and does some in-house.

Regrets, we have more
The other top regret shared by many indie authors? Not commissioning professionals who are experts at book cover design and also the genre/subgenre of the book.

This is a three-pronged error:

  • “Knowing Photoshop” isn’t enough.
  • Even knowing graphic design isn’t enough.
  • Even an award-winning book cover designer isn’t a good choice if their portfolio is in an entirely different genre.

You wouldn’t take your Corvette to a diesel mechanic. So why would you put your career and bank account in the hands of your neighbor/niece/coworker unless they are experienced, successful book designers in your genre? Most indies reported regretting that kind of early choice and would do it differently today.

Where to find a designer

  • Word of mouth from successful indie authors in the same genre/subgenre
  • Sometimes listed on copyright pages
  • Reddit and other online communities where authors and artists gather
  • Genre-specific Google searches (book cover designers + subgenre)
  • Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. (Twitter hashtag #portfolioday)

Rights and licenses
Questions to ask; not all necessarily apply to any specific situation:

  • The prices of print and audiobook covers?
  • Does your license include using the cover on web pages, store sites, social media, merchandise?
  • Is the art/photo exclusively yours or also available for other authors?
  • Can you share in-progress drafts with your readers to vote on options?
  • How many sample designs, drafts, and revisions are provided?
  • Do you provide other options, such as behind-the-scenes videos of photoshoots that the author can use in promotions?

 

Designing your own covers
DIY is a growing trend and one that, while tempting, can be as disastrous as using an inadequate designer.

Some respondents admitted that they liked their early attempts and were proud of them at the time. But down the road, they recognized the work was amateurish, which hurt sales. Readers assumed the insides were as amateur as the cover.

Many authors are thrilled with the skills they’re learning and the new covers they are making. The learning curve on Photoshop, for example, has been tough but gratifying, and they know their covers will only improve as they learn more.

BookBrush and Canva
One writer says the combination of graphics experience and BookBrush has led to replacing older mystery covers.

Stock photos and premade covers
Book designers use stock photos as a starting place and then manipulate, layer and add objects or characters that are also digitally changed. But unadorned stock photos with text can work in some genres. Book designers often have premade covers on their websites. Authors sometimes find covers there. Two writers regretted snapping up premades, assuming they could write something to fit. They acknowledge they’ll never do it again and wish they could have that money back.

It’s amazing how many of us decide to learn to create book covers without any knowledge of Photoshop and go for it anyway. Some look at the many long hours of frustration and less-than-stellar results and consider the experience time and money wasted. Others take courses to learn or watch YouTube videos and ask for help in Facebook groups.

Several members can’t visualize what they want until they play around with the elements themselves, which led to them finally acquiring enough skills to take on the task for good. Some take on DIY because they can make effective covers. Others are happy to turn the job over to the professionals when they can. And some take the hybrid road in covers, making some for themselves and hiring professionals to do others. One such author mentioned hiring a romance cover designer because getting those right is imperative, whereas some of her other book covers are less demanding.

How do you know a cover works?
Crowd-sourcing your readers is a popular method to test covers. Some share on social media and may even let readers vote on options or models. Some create a private Facebook group or subset of their email list for this use.

One author showed three different male models to readers to choose between, only to have one of them dismissed overwhelmingly because the readers said he was on too many covers already.

Authors ask for the above feedback as a way to build anticipation for their new book, even if they’re already pretty sure what they’re going to do.

Keep in mind:

  • If there’s a free promotion and not a lot of downloads? Very likely, the cover isn’t doing its job.
  • Reviewers saying they expected a different kind of book from the cover? Again, the cover isn’t doing its job.
  • Some people change covers and sales surge.
  • How many clicks an ad gets may be indicative of your cover’s appeal.
  • Your cover reveals on social media or in your newsletter should get responses.
  • One author tested her covers with Facebook ads. Once she found the best, she went ahead and recovered an entire series.

Once is not enough
Several authors say they update covers every few years. Others change covers as soon as they suspect one isn’t working. All say updated covers usually boost sales.

 

Summing up
Indie authors relish the control they have over their own covers, despite the learning curve they may hit and hard lessons learned through experience. If something isn’t working, they have the flexibility to change it. And if it is working, they can enjoy the profits and perhaps use the lessons learned when designing their next cover.

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Patricia Burroughs is a novelist and screenwriter. She is an Academy Fellow, having received the Academy Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting (awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences). She loves Pratchett, Aaronovitch, Dunnett, and Heyer. She desperately needs a maid.

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Christine Foltzer is art director at Tordotcom Publishing. She has overseen the development of covers and marketing since the launch of the imprint in 2015. After graduating from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Illustration, she also worked at St. Martin’s Press, Oxford University Press, and Grand Central Publishing.

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Nink: How To Write Body Language That Goes Deeper Than A Basic Shrug

This article by Joanne Grant is from the September 2021 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

It is widely believed that at least 50% of human communication is nonverbal. That means that if you rely on dialogue alone to convey character, emotion and behaviour, then the reader will only get half of the story. But how do you utilise body language successfully and in a way that is more compelling than a run-of-the-mill nod or shrug?

In this article, I will give you tips on how to approach body language to ensure it has purpose and meaning, and how to go deeper with your body language descriptions.

Find the significance of body language scene by scene
Watch how humans interact. We’re always moving our bodies, either consciously or subconsciously. If you don’t describe enough body language in your writing, your characters can come across as wooden and unbelievable because this isn’t how people interact.

However, it would be a mistake to try and capture every gesture and twitch a character makes. That would soon become distracting for the reader.

So, when is it good to show body language and what purpose can it have? Let’s look at some examples:

  • Convey emotion – Using nonverbal emotional responses can have far more impact than verbal responses alone, and emotional reactions are a great way to build and reveal character.
  • Set the tone – Body language can convey tension and mood. If a character stands rigid and glowering when we first meet them, we can assume the situation they’re in isn’t great.
  • To break up dialogue – Stretches of dialogue can feel like floating heads having a conversation. Interjections of nonverbal description will break up the dialogue and bring the scene to life whilst enhancing the meaning of the dialogue.
  • Show character – Body language can help deepen characterisation. A lot can be inferred by the way someone moves and their facial expressions.
  • Add subtext – Subtle or unusual body language can hint at something deeper. This can be used to great effect, for example, in crime novels, when the reader is looking for clues to the identity of the guilty party.
  • Create movement – A scene lacking in any body language will feel static and unrealistic. Body language can breathe life into a scene.

Identifying why you’re choosing to add in a body language description can be a good way to determine how much description is suitable.

For example, if it’s a pivotal emotional scene, then it could have more impact to utilise a more evocative or detailed exploration of body language to convey the emotion a character is feeling. However, if you are punctuating quick-moving dialogue with movements, a lengthy pause to describe body language in detail may be unnecessary and can slow the pace.

Look at the context and what the purpose of the description is and focus on what adds to the story at that point in time, in terms of character, setting, or tone.

How to add depth to descriptions
Whether we like it or not, we all have habits that characterise us. When I asked my now husband what his first impressions of me were, he said, “You move your hands a lot when you speak.” I’m not sure if this added to our attraction or not, but either way he married me! The notable thing is he noticed my nonverbal quirks.

And it’s not all about the limbs either. We have around 42 muscles in our face that help us to convey emotions. I favoured the one-eyebrow rise during school years; it was the best nonverbal way to get my “I’m not impressed” point across to annoying teenage boys during class!

What is the meaning behind the movement?
I’d encourage you to think about how you and those around you use body language. Consider the nuances of the movements and what they mean. It’s not unusual to gesticulate when speaking, but some people do it when they are nervous, others when they are excited. Think about the meaning behind that movement, then how you can show it in more depth. Is there a slight tremble that is at odds with the seemingly confident movement in those hands?

And did I, in fact, save my most withering of one-eyebrow raises for the boys I secretly liked? Think about how you could show this with other nonverbal cues—a slight quirk upwards of the mouth, an unconscious hand to the hair.

Body language is open to interpretation and you can add depth to your description by identifying the meaning you want to convey. After all, each of us is unique, just like characters, which is why writing deeper body language will flow from getting to know your characters.

Let’s dig deeper
Think about how your character would behave on an average day. How would they walk and gesture when they talk? What about their facial expressions? Now turn the dial up—because let’s be honest, no one wants to read about an average day! How would they express themselves on an awesome day? Would their body movements change? Would their facial expressions be more exaggerated?

Now let’s get mean and dial it right back down. How about a really bad day? Think of the range of emotions: fear, grief, anger, disappointment, and how they may express them in a nonverbal way.

If you complete this exercise for two or more characters and their reactions are the same, then their unique personalities are not yet coming through with their actions. There will be similarities in the way humans express emotions—tears for grief, smiling for happiness—but knowing your character as an individual will help to create nuances in how they express these emotions. Their body language should stem from their character. Return to who they are and build out their movements from there.

The signature “tell”
Body language can be great at creating subtext by dropping clues for the reader and other characters to pick up on and interpret, or misinterpret. It can be fun to give a character a signature “tell” or a physical habit that holds greater meaning, whether they are aware of it or not.

Think of poker, where getting to understand other players’ “tells” can help you win or lose the game, depending on whether you read the tell correctly. Those tells are subtle, often unconscious movements, but in writing, they will have attention drawn to them because they will be described.

If you want to give your character a signature tell, it’s best to save it for scenes of stress and significance; otherwise it may be too obvious. And if you’re curious, look up poker tells for some inspiration of subtle movements and what they often mean.

How to avoid clichéd body language
There is a fine line between a convention of a genre and a cliché, and this can also depend on personal preference. But anything that is overused, either in your own work or within your genre, can feel tired and clichéd. So how can you avoid this?

Check repetition
Recognise if you use similar phrases, or types of signature tells, to describe body language book after book. Readers will notice if your heroine always bites her lip when nervous or characters always dip their chin to mean “yes.”

Be mindful of characters within a story displaying the same body language. This, again, suggests they are not unique characters, unless they are intentionally or subconsciously mirroring one another.

If you are repeating yourself, return to your characters and think about what body language is unique to them.

Balance is everything
Too much emphasis on body language and overly detailed descriptions can be distracting. They can also slow the pace and be disconcerting—what’s with all the arms flailing about?! And if you give your character a really quirky habit, use it sparingly and for effect. You don’t want to pull the reader out of the story.

On the flip side, too little description and you end up with one-dimensional characters and the story feels flat. Achieving balance is important in bringing your characters to life and can really elevate your storytelling.

Utilising body language is an incredible tool for showing rather than telling, as well as for creating believable, well-rounded characters. If you want to deepen the way you express body language, start with your character. If you know your character how you know yourself, you can uncover the nuances of movements and reactions.

But understanding the significance of the movement in the context of the story is also very important. Sometimes you will want to show the subtle raise of the shoulders as a character lowers their eyes and hangs their head as the fight drains out of them. And other times, you may just need to tell the reader that they shrugged.

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Joanne Grant is an editorial coach with over 16 years of editorial expertise working for Harlequin. Joanne has edited hundreds of romance novels over the years and understands how to coach authors of all genres to overcome their barriers and deliver their best work. If you’re interested in finding out how she can help you achieve your writing goals, get in touch—Joanne loves to chat! For inspiration, tips and offers, sign up for her newsletter, join her Facebook group Motivation for Writers! or connect on Twitter @JoanneMGrant.

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Nink: Selling Direct Through Author Websites

This article, written by Mindy Klasky  is from the September 2021 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

This article discusses U.S. and international taxation law, which varies by country, state, province, territory, and municipality. The information here may not apply to your specific circumstances and is not legal advice.

Authors wear multiple hats, including writer, researcher, editor, and marketer. As e-commerce continues to expand, authors can add yet another identity to their figurative wardrobe: owner/operator of an online store.

Online stores allow authors to control the sale of their books far more than they can through traditional vendors. Authors can set prices without worrying about artificial pricing floors or ceilings.* They can also offer unique products not available at traditional vendors.

Authors generally earn higher royalties on sales through their own websites than those through traditional vendors. The details vary, depending on store platform (e.g., Payhip or WooCommerce), payment gateway (e.g., PayPal or Stripe), and product cost, but most authors receive 80-85% of the cover price of their goods.

But website stores present some challenges—most notably issues in delivering goods to purchasers and in handling taxation.

I conducted a survey in late June 2021, asking authors to report on their experiences running stores on their websites. All percentages noted below are derived from that survey. (Due to rounding, not all numbers add up to 100 percent.)

Building the store
There are many customizable e-commerce platforms designed to provide individualized stores on websites. Each integrates with an existing website to display goods, allow customers to order, and accept payment. Some systems also take care of fulfillment (delivering goods to buyers).

Popular e-commerce platforms include Payhip (used by 35% of survey respondents), WooCommerce (29%), and Shopify (12%). It is also possible to build a store entirely from scratch, using HTML code to create buttons and accepting payment through PayPal or Stripe.

Not all e-commerce platforms function on all website platforms. For example, WooCommerce is designed to work as a plugin on WordPress websites; it’s not available on other website platforms such as SquareSpace, Wix, or Weebly.

Some authors (including approximately 64% of the survey respondents) set up their stores themselves, adding the code to their existing website and optimizing it to best reflect their brands. Another 6% had their personal assistant set up their stores, while 30% hired a programmer or web admin to create the store.

Once a store is created, it needs to be maintained. Software requires occasional updates to run smoothly and to minimize the risk of hacking. New products (e.g., newly published books) must be added. Authors can run sales, including special prices for specific time periods. Eighty-two percent of survey respondents reported maintaining their own store or having their personal assistant maintain it. The remainder hired a programmer or web admin for at least some of the maintenance.

Stocking the store
Once a store is installed on a website, an author has a lot of leeway about what products to stock. Among survey respondents, 60% sell ebooks and 53% sell print books. Thirty percent sell audiobooks, 35% sell swag, and 6% sell membership in classes, seminars, or public appearances.

Owning a store allows an author to develop unique products only available at that store. For example, they can build unique boxed sets, including the first book in multiple series, books collected according to tropes, or books related to a specific holiday. Authors can also pair books with swag in unique packages.

Moreover, authors can provide a high level of “fan service,” offering books in their own stores prior to releasing those books through traditional vendors. Such early releases reward dedicated readers while simultaneously increasing the value of an author’s newsletter (because interested readers will click on links in that newsletter, further building ties to the author and increasing the deliverability of future newsletters).

Delivering goods
When customers purchase electronic goods (e.g., ebooks, audiobooks, class memberships), they typically expect those products to be delivered immediately. The leader in electronic goods fulfillment is BookFunnel, which walks customers through the process of “sideloading” (adding new purchases to e-readers or computers, without the delivery apparatus of a traditional vendor). Sixty-five percent of survey respondents report using the service, which automates delivery of electronic files.

Fulfillment is somewhat more complicated for physical goods (e.g., print books,  swag). Fifty-nine percent of survey respondents report that they or their personal assistant handle shipping of at least some physical goods. In addition, 18% of respondents rely on a print-on-demand store to deliver products. (Shipping directly from a print-on-demand store avoids paying twice for moving the same items.)

Tax concerns
Many authors shy away from website stores because they are concerned about the tax implications of running an online business. Recent United States Supreme Court rulings have clarified that online store owners are obligated to collect and remit sales tax for all states where their customers reside. (This represents a change from the earlier rule, where owners only needed to remit sales tax in states where the owner had a business presence. In the United States, sales tax is managed on a state-by-state basis; there is no federal sales tax.)

Some states classify ebooks as “electronic products” that are not subject to sales tax. And most states further relieve the burden through “garage sale” laws, stating that it’s not necessary to remit sales tax on small or “de minimis” sales. (One of the last holdouts for a de minimis exception, Kansas, rectified the oversight with an exception that became effective on July 1, 2021.) Laws change frequently, though, and store owners should remain current on the requirements to collect and remit sales tax. An overview of U.S. laws on sales tax can be found at Tax Jar.

Store owners may also be liable to pay value-added tax (VAT) on sales made to residents of foreign countries. While some countries have exceptions that cover ebooks, others explicitly state that all sales of all goods, no matter how small, remain taxable.

Store platform Payhip, which is based in the United Kingdom, proudly handles collecting and remitting VAT for store owners. As of this writing, no other major store platform provides that service.

Store owners take a variety of actions regarding collecting and remitting taxes. For authors based in the United States, 79% of respondents accept customers from anywhere; the others limit their sales based on country. (All respondents based in other countries accept customers from everywhere.)

Store owners based in the United States exhibited a great deal of confusion when surveyed about taxes. Some know that they’re selling taxable items. Many aren’t aware that their goods might be taxable. Many rely on the de minimis exemptions (although most say they have not researched those exemptions specifically). Some rely on Payhip (although Payhip might not remit taxes to all tax authorities worldwide).

Overall cost to set up store
The cost of installing a web store varies widely. The store requires a website (usually the same as the author’s), which in turn requires hosting from a service like SiteGround, Bluehost, or GoDaddy.

The website must use a theme or template that is capable of supporting a web store. Many of those themes and templates are free, but paid themes and templates tend to provide a greater range of functions, a more specialized design that might stand out in a crowded field, a higher level of customer support, and more frequent updates. Popular themes include Storefront, Divi, and Astra.

Some store software is free (such as WooCommerce). Other store software—e.g., Payhip and Shopify—have tiers of pricing, providing different features at various price points. Most store software providers offer a free trial for users to experiment with the features for 14 days.

Finally, website stores generally rely on payment gateways such as PayPal or Stripe to accept customers’ payment for goods. Those gateways charge a transaction fee for every sale (e.g., $0.49), plus a percentage of the cost of the item sold (e.g., 2.49%).

Of course, no single author’s store is going to challenge the reach of the Amazon behemoth or other traditional vendors. Ninety-five percent of surveyed authors noted that their website stores were less profitable than any of their top three venues. (The remaining 5% were unwilling to answer the question.) While one author reported website sales equaling 10-24.99% of their total sales and another reported website sales of 5-9.99%, all other respondents who answered the question were equally divided between sales of less than 1% and sales of 1-4.99% of their total income.

The future of stores
Many respondents noted that their stores are not currently key income-generating pieces of their sales strategy; however, they are bulwarks against the harsh strategies and potential failure of traditional vendors. Several respondents called for authors to increase the training of their readers, helping potential customers become more comfortable with sideloading.

Website stores remain a tantalizing prospect for authors. In the short term, they offer increased income, with a huge potential as customers become receptive to buying outside the structure of traditional vendors.

At the same time, creating and maintaining a store (especially the international taxation issues associated with the operation of that store) are intimidating for many authors. While there are rumors of third-party sites offering the opportunity for authors to create self-branded stores with minimal fuss, those rumors are not yet public.

 

*While Amazon reserves the right to match prices to other vendors—including authors selling direct—they’re unlikely to discover pricing on most authors’ websites.

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USA Today bestselling author Mindy Klasky’s most recent novel is the romantic comedy The C Word, the first volume in her Love in the Age of COVID series. Klasky learned to read when her parents shoved a book in her hands and told her she could travel anywhere through stories. As a writer, Klasky has traveled through various genres, including romantic comedy, contemporary romance, and traditional fantasy. In her spare time, she knits, quilts, and tries to tame her to-be-read shelf.

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Nink: Front & Back Matter ~ Dress Your Novel For Success

This article, written by Mindy Klasky  is from the August 2021 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

As authors, we pour energy into creating our novels, drafting, and revising and polishing until every word sings. But all too often, we send those creations into the world dressed in the equivalent of a burlap sack, setting the story between hastily thrown together front matter and back matter. (Front matter is simply the material that appears at the front of a book, before the story itself—think title page, “Also By” page, etc. Back matter is the material that appears at the back of the book—think “About the Author” page, etc. Front matter and back matter, taken together, are a book’s supplemental matter.)

The primary goal of supplemental matter is to sell the specific book in which it appears. That sale is made more likely by front matter and back matter that convey professionalism, reassuring the prospective buyer that an author understands basic publishing conventions such as title pages and copyright pages. “Also by” pages increase a potential purchaser’s confidence by demonstrating the author’s experience. Dedications, author’s notes, forewords, introductions, and prefaces all provide glimpses into an author’s thoughts, building rapport with would-be readers and making them more likely to want to continue the relationship by buying the book.

The secondary goal—which is almost as important as the primary one—is to sell additional books. But just as a Brooks Brothers suit stands out in a Silicon Valley office or a graphic T-shirt is frowned upon by Wall Street, appropriateness of specific front matter and back matter varies depending on setting. Ebooks and print books require dramatically different fashion statements.

A complete wardrobe
Grab a book off the nearest bookshelf. Take a peek at what’s in there, concentrating on all the things that aren’t actually the main text. Chances are, you’ll see some or all of the following, possibly accompanied by one or more blank pages:

  • Table of contents (originally included only in nonfiction works, but now often included in ebook versions of fiction and nominally required by Amazon for all ebooks)
  • Half-title page (usually including just the title, with no other information)
  • Title page (usually including the publisher’s name and logo and sometimes including the publisher’s location)
  • Also By page (listing some or all of the author’s works)
  • Copyright page (including a copyright notice, other legal notices, and contact information for the publisher)
  • Blurbs (excerpts of reviews or other promotional material specifically for this book)
  • Dedication
  • Epigraph
  • Author’s note
  • Foreword, introduction, or preface
  • Prologue
  • (The actual text—the one thing on this list that is not supplemental matter)
  • Epilogue
  • Afterword
  • Endnotes
  • Index
  • Acknowledgments
  • Interview with the author
  • Book group or classroom materials related to the book
  • Promotional material for other books by the author, including teasers (typically in the same series, but not always)
  • Promotional material for books by other authors
  • Invitation to join the author’s newsletter or other social media
  • Request to review the book
  • About the Author page
  • About the Publisher page

A slim silhouette: ebooks
The selection of specific supplemental matter varies by format because readers experience electronic books and print books in very different ways. (Some traditional publishers have not recognized this different experience; many ebooks published by traditional publishers retain the identical supplemental matter as their print books. This arrangement is not optimal.)

Front matter is often dramatically curtailed in ebooks, supporting authors’ primary goal of selling the current book. This abridgment is a natural consequence of many vendors providing a free sample to potential ebook buyers, allowing them to read a percentage of the book for free. (The specific percentage varies from vendor to vendor.) Authors benefit by providing as striking a sample as possible, allowing the prospective purchaser to experience the author’s writing style, ideally hooking them to the extent that they buy the book.

Extensive front matter cuts into the “meat” of the sample available to possible buyers. Extensive blurbs, long lists of other works by the author, and promotional material for the publisher all build a barrier between the reader and the actual text of the novel.

Technically, no front matter is necessary; however, most authors retain a few basics: a title page, a dedication (if they’re including one in the book), and a prologue (again, if the story calls for one.)

All other supporting material—even the table of contents and copyright page—is shifted to the back. Once there is no longer a danger of alienating a reader who is considering a sample, possibilities open up. For example, an “Also By” list might include every book written by the author instead of a select few. A teaser might include entire chapters, rather than a few pages.

The whole nine yards: print books
Print books, on the other hand, tend to retain more front matter. Even though many potential purchasers of print books will use a vendor’s preview function (e.g., Amazon’s Look Inside feature), most print books retain the traditional front matter structure set out in the bullet list above. This structure is likely a holdover from traditional publishing, the source of the vast majority of print books sold.

Print books generally do not include as much supplemental matter intended to sell additional books. These choices are based, at least in part, on the nature of the medium, as well as the cost of paper and shipping. Most print books do not include a request for the reader to review the book or to sign up for the author’s newsletter, in part because the immediacy of that request is diluted by the reader’s need to set aside the book, to pick up an electronic device, and to follow through on the request. Teasers for other books tend to be relatively short—a few pages rather than complete or multiple chapters—because the cost of materials, manufacture, and shipping is relatively high.

Individual fashion statements
Within the general framework of ebooks (sparse front matter, more elaborate back matter) and print books (more elaborate front matter, relatively sparse back matter), authors still must make choices when they select and order their supplemental material, based on their specific publishing goals and their understanding of the publishing business.

The most important element of back matter is the one that immediately follows the actual text. Readers are far more likely to see that element as they tap to read the next page or turn an actual print page. (Their attention will likely wane with each additional element after the conclusion of a satisfying story.)

Some authors prioritize long-term connections with readers. For them, getting newsletter subscribers is the most important way to make additional sales. By definition, readers following a link to a newsletter sign-up will not be making an immediate purchase; however, they may be more likely to buy books in the future, based on the newsletters they receive.

Other authors prioritize the certainty of making an immediate new sale. Those authors will likely include a blurb, teaser, or sample chapter(s) for a specific book or books.

Still other authors prioritize building a community with their readers. They believe that their readers will be more likely to buy additional books if they “know” the author through websites, including social media. Those authors will conclude their main text with immediate invitations for the reader to visit Facebook groups, Instagram feeds, or other social media.

The nitty and the gritty
Once an author determines specific elements for front matter and back matter, those elements should be presented in a unified fashion across all the author’s books. Templates simplify this structure.

New authors and authors who value their time more than their royalties might rely on the templates created by Draft2Digital. This consolidator allows authors to distribute their work to multiple vendors with the flick of a few keys. Authors can designate supplemental matter, allowing Draft2Digital to compile electronic files incorporating that content across an entire catalog. (Of course, Draft2Digital charges for its services—15% of all books sold through their platform.)

More experienced formatters or authors who don’t want to pay Draft2Digital’s royalty share can create a template. In Vellum, for example, authors can create a file that contains each supplemental matter file, formatted according to the author’s preference. Then, it’s a simple matter to save that file under a new name for each new book, importing the specific narrative chapters to finish the book. (My Vellum format file also includes a page where I document each change I’ve made to my supplemental matter, stating the date and the change.) Similar templates can be created in other systems such as Scrivener or Word.

Front matter and back matter remain valuable tools for authors working to sell one book or an entire catalog of books.

Sample copyright page
Traditionally, the copyright page is printed on the back of the title page, with the text starting at the bottom of the page. A complete copyright page includes:

***

Copyright © [Year] by [Author]

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

[If a reprint: This book was originally published under the title [Title].]

[If you have licensed copyrighted work, such as a song:

[Title of song]
Words and music by [Author of song]
Copyright © [Year] by [Copyright holder of song]
[Rights notices required by license, such as Used by permission of [Rights holder]]]

Cover design by [Designer name]

Published by [Publisher name]

[Publisher address]

ISBN: [ISBN]

Discover other titles by [Author] at [website]

[Optional date code, indicating the date this book was last updated: DDMMYY]

________________________

USA Today bestselling author Mindy Klasky’s most recent novel is the romantic comedy The C Word, the first volume in her Love in the Age of COVID Series. Klasky learned to read when her parents shoved a book in her hands and told her she could travel anywhere through stories. As a writer, Klasky has traveled through various genres, including romantic comedy, contemporary romance, and traditional fantasy. In her spare time, she knits, quilts, and tries to tame her to-be-read shelf.

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