Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Tips from Omni Book Publishing

From:
PUBLISHING TIPS FROM
OMNI BOOK PUBLISHING


Where do book titles come from?

Karrie Ross, Book Designer, says: "Finding the right title for your book can be challenging. A title is the purpose of your book and is important that it presents your book's subject in the best way possible. It must grab your audiences attention, make them question and think and act by picking up the book and start reading... end eventually buy it."

You may already have an idea of what you want to name your story and that may be exactly the right title, but before you place it where it belongs in the story stop and give it a second thought.
Create phrases of three-five words, look at them and keep reqoerking them until you find the right combination - a winning combination!

Think also about the audience for the book: interests, mind-set, demographic.
I always remember an episode of the English comedy "As Time Goes By" when the character Lionel Hardcastle, wonderfully portrayed by Geoffrey Palmer, was asked about the book he had written and he said it was called "My Life in Kenya", and the other person said, "And what is it about?", to which he answered, "My life in Kenya..." and you can almost heard the "Duh" at the end of his sentence.

A Small Publisher Advantage
Several larger publishers are saving money by cutting back the production quality. Most are using a cheap looking, nearly wood-pulp paper thus making their books look cheaper.
Smaller publishers are maintaining production values. Many are increasing the brightness of their white paper from 88 to 94 or even 96.

When books are compared in a bookstore, the smaller publishers have a decided advantage: their books simply look better.

Visit a bookstore and check quality paper yourself.

The Right Publisher
How do you decide which is the best publisher for your book? I know that for many authors, price is a deciding issue, but what about one who keeps you informed about the status of your book and is available through telephone or email whenever you want to check?

There is a publishing company that states in their publishing contract that authors should not contact them, that the publisher will contact the author if need be - something like "don't call us, we'll call you" - and they sound almost annoyed at the idea of giving information to someone who trusted them with their brain child and paid money for its publication.

If you have encountered one of those publishers, the best way to communicate is via email (and keep copies of those emails), and if still don't receive information you should know it's time to change publishing houses.

The author should always have the right to inquire how his book is coming along, even if it's to hear that it's in the hands of the Interior Book Designer, or the Graphic Designer, or it's being sent to the binder soon. Of course, calling every day is not kosher, so trust your publisher. Sometimes office personnel is busy and cannot stay on line answering questions that were answered two days ago.

If there is a problem with a given date, the publisher should contact the author and explain the delay and what is being done to solve the problem.

Have you read our blogs?
With the help of Lori, our Interior Book Designer, we have been publishing a blog under different topics. Find it at http://omnibookpublishing.blogspot.com/

Here's looking at you and wishing you a good writing day!

Christina Coirolo
OMNI Book Publishing
517-541-2942 / fax 517-727-5959
http://www.omnibookpublishing.com/