How to Save Money With Your Paper Stock
August 27, 2008
It’s a tough question to answer, and one I hear all the time: Which paper stock should I choose for my book? And although it’s a tough question, it is an important one because the paper you choose will tell your potential buyer what kind of book this is. Go too cheap, you might lose some buyers to a different title. Go too expensive, you just wasted your money.
Let’s start by clearing up a point of confusion among many looking to print their first book: the difference between bond and offset paper weights. When you purchase paper for your copy machine or home printer, you’ll note paper is listed as something like 20# bond. What that means is that when the paper is manufactured at 17 x 22″, 500 sheets of that paper weighs 20 pounds. However, offset paper for printing plants is manufactured in 25 x 38″ sheets, which is 2.5 times larger than bond paper. So 500 sheets of that same paper stock now weigh 50 pounds. Thus, 20# bond is the same as 50# offset.
Most black & white books with no photos are printed on either 50# or 60# offset. Going with 50# is adequate for most books and will save you some money. However, if you want your book to have a nicer feel to it, check out the extra cost for 60#. It might be worth it to you.
One thing I cannot emphasize enough - get print samples. There are a couple times when I have had a client tell me they knew exactly what type of paper they wanted to use, but then they were disappointed when they got the final product. Why? A friend of theirs had told them which paper stock to choose, and they ordered their books without ever seeing a paper sample. Don’t make the same mistake!
Now let’s assume your book is not as simple as a novel or a book with just black text. Maybe your book needs to be printed in full color. If that’s the case, you’ll want to use a paper stock that highlights the color better than a typical offset sheet. Glossy paper will usually do the trick.
Also, if your book is full color, a thicker paper may be necessary to make your book have a nicer feel to it and justify your sale price. If printing in the U.S., I usually recommend no lighter than a 70# or 80# gloss. If printing overseas, don’t go lighter than 120 gsm.
I can’t say it often enough: No matter which paper stock you think you want, ask your printer for some samples first.
When it comes to cover stock, for a paperback book a 10 pt. C1S cover is standard. However, it is usually very inexpensive to upgrade to a 12 pt. C1S cover. People do judge a book by its cover, so this might be a cost-effective upgrade.
Publisher vs Self-Publishing: 3 Book Publishing Strategies
August 27, 2008
The majority of people never write a book due to the problems they can see related to both ways of getting a book published and they stop trying. If you make an effort with the big New York publisher route, the beginning step of finding a publisher is not simple and it is very difficult to get the publisher to take your book and pay in advance.
If you try the self-publishing route you right away are faced with a very steep learning curve as you are forced to accomplish dozens of technically difficult tasks. And the price tag for this route is $30,000 to $40,000 when all is said and done.
Thankfully for the intelligent person who wants to not only write a book but use it to make money, there is a new alternative. There are three book publishing methods that everyone can use to get rid of the problems and reap the benefits.
1st Strategy - When at all possible, avoid giving your copyrights away.
There are two prime benefits to seek and they are to stay in control and make money. You can enjoy both of these self-publishing benefits if you discover a New Your Publisher that does not purchase the copyright to your book and inspires you to use as much of the content of your book as you wish to produce other products that you will be able to profit from.
2nd Strategy - Secure the largest breadth of distribution possible for your book.
The New York Publisher’s biggest benefit is the extensive distribution of your book. Sustaining high sales is possible if you proactively choose a publisher with wide dissemination. This will exponentially increase your income because you will sell other products on your website, and each book that is sold in a bookstore will bring the reader back to the site.
Strategy 3 - Turn your book into a business by creating a book marketing plan.
Another great benefit of choosing a New York Publisher is a good marketing plan, but you?re going to take it to a new level. From the beginning of your book idea, turn it into a bestselling business. You will being making money long before your book is actually published. This could bring in more profit than you?d ever get from the advance of a publisher. And you?ll reap the benefits of high sales because off of your products will sell the book when it is printed and ready to be shipped.
ACTION POINT: When you write a book, proactively look for the right publisher using the 3 strategies above and you’ll have the best of both worlds. You’ll make money all the way through the entire process from book idea to New York Times Bestseller. You’ll be able to create a book that becomes an automatic bestseller and might even earn you a passive 6 or 7-figure income.
Cheap Book Printing: Check Your Layout
August 27, 2008
Most people don’t think of the layout design of their book as an area that can impact the printing cost, but it can have an effect.
For example, most offset printers use 32-page signatures. This means that you will want to keep your page count divisible by 8, 16, or 32. A 130-page book can cost a fair amount more to print than a 128-page book, so it’s worth trying to figure out how to get rid of those two extra pages, if at all possible.
To get to an appropriately divisible page count, play around with the margins in your book. Make them a little smaller or a little larger.
A minor increase or decrease in the leading (line spacing) can have a major effect on the page count. I’ve had books where I’ve had to drop a couple pages to save cost, and just adjusting the leading by a small amount - maybe only 0.2 pt. - can get me those two pages.
However, before spending too much time worrying about your page count, talk to your printer. It may be that the price difference isn’t worth the hassle of adjusting your layout (although it probably is). Also, if you’re using a digital press, you don’t need to worry about page counts since they don’t use signatures. Other presses may use unusual signature breaks as well.
One last area that can save money on the print run is by rethinking the trim size of the book. Too many times I’ve seen customers insist on a specific print size when adjusting it by 1/4″ or 1/2″ would save them quite a bit of money. Why is that? Because different trim sizes are set up differently on different presses. A trim size that works well on one press might generate a lot of paper waste on another press. And guess who pays for that extra paper waste - you!
So don’t be afraid to ask for help from your printer sales rep. And shop around. See if the trim size you have in mind might work better for a different printing plant. Or see if you can get recommendations from a plant as to what trim sizes work best for them. Minor variations can save a lot of money on your book publishing in the end.
What Type of Paper Should I Use for My Book?
August 27, 2008
With hundreds of available paper stocks, the decision of which paper to use for your print run can be overwhelming. Most of all, it’s a decision determined by the type of book you are printing. A children’s or coffee table book? You’ll need a thick glossy sheet to help your color images stand out. A novel? Go cheap.
Let’s start by clearing up a point of confusion among many looking to print their first book: the difference between bond and offset paper weights. When you purchase paper for your copy machine or home printer, you’ll note paper is listed as something like 20# bond. What that means is that when the paper is manufactured at 17 x 22″, 500 sheets of that paper weighs 20 pounds. However, offset paper for printing plants is manufactured in 25 x 38″ sheets, which is 2.5 times larger than bond paper. So 500 sheets of that same paper stock now weigh 50 pounds. Thus, 20# bond is the same as 50# offset.
Most black & white books with no photos are printed on either 50# or 60# offset. Going with 50# is adequate for most books and will save you some money. However, if you want your book to have a nicer feel to it, check out the extra cost for 60#. It might be worth it to you.
One thing I cannot emphasize enough - get print samples. There are a couple times when I have had a client tell me they knew exactly what type of paper they wanted to use, but then they were disappointed when they got the final product. Why? A friend of theirs had told them which paper stock to choose, and they ordered their books without ever seeing a paper sample. Don’t make the same mistake!
Now let’s assume your book is not as simple as a novel or a book with just black text. Maybe your book needs to be printed in full color. If that’s the case, you’ll want to use a paper stock that highlights the color better than a typical offset sheet. Glossy paper will usually do the trick.
Also, if you are printing in full color, you’ll definitely want a thicker paper stock. You don’t want any see-through for your color images from one side of the page to another. I usually recommend 80# gloss for most color books. If you want a little thicker, step up to 100# gloss. If you are trying to save cost, drop down to 70# gloss - but never less than that.
Again — always get samples before making your decision!
When it comes to cover stock, for a paperback book a 10 pt. C1S cover is standard. However, it is usually very inexpensive to upgrade to a 12 pt. C1S cover. People do judge a book by its cover, so this might be a cost-effective upgrade.
Eliminate Wedding Speech Jitters
August 26, 2008
Sooner or later it had to happen, right? Your best bud would get married leaving you cruising in the single lane on your own. You played that scenario in your mind a few times before.
At the same time he asked you to be his best man, which includes making a wedding toast at the reception for about 375 people. Public speaking is your worst nightmare, but you can’t let your buddy down so you said you’d do the job.
So after you get that cold sweat under control, where do you start when writing and delivering a wedding toast? How do you harness the jitters and use them to your advantage. What on earth do you say, you who are known as the strong, silent type?
Learn from these suggestions on how to make an excellent wedding toast.
- It’s important to get started early when planning, writing, practicing delivery and everything else involved in making a wedding speech. Don’t be tempted to “play it by ear”. Trust me, the results wouldn’t be pretty. Hit the books for research and the web for tips too.
- Face the fear and use it. It’s only energy after all! When making a wedding toast, it can be very valuable to have extra energy at hand that you can use to captivate your audience and make your wedding toast memorable. A speech without the energy of performance anxiety is lacklustre and totally lacking in passion.
- Write, edit, relax and don’t look at the wedding toast for a few days. Then repeat the process as often as necessary until you just know you have done the best job you can. Look at this as a journey and try to enjoy the whole thing, otherwise it will just seem like a chore that you want to get out of the way.
- A bit of laughter, some smiles, these are what you are aiming for when you use humor in a wedding speech. Never tell intimate stories, use crude language or off-color jokes. Never!
- Take a stroll down memory lane. Recount how you met the groom, about a shared experience or two. Say what a super guy he is. In your wedding toast, compliment his choice of bride and comment about the wonderful future you believe they will have together. Today’s the day you can wear your heart on your sleeve.
- Be brief. Three to five minutes is long enough for a wedding toast.
- Face time! Practice delivering your wedding toast in front of a full-length mirror, complete with props and features. Time it too.
- Take five. Try to grab a few moments in the exact place where you will be giving your wedding speech to get a feel for the mike and the room from that vantage point.
- Raise a glass. This is the actual toast of the wedding toast. Make eye contact with the bride and groom when you toast them. Lift your arm from the shoulder, toast with a full glass. This takes place at the very end of your wedding speech.
- Walk to the bride and groom. Embrace the groom and the bride and go back to your seat. You’re finished with the wedding toast. Wasn’t that a great experience?
Why the Right Keywords Do Matter
August 26, 2008
Most websites are challenged to choose the right keywords in order to succeed. Everything starts with the right words. After all what good is top ranking if you have not researched which keywords will drive the right traffic to you?
Avoid keyword clutter, and only choose keywords that are relevant to your services, to each other, and keep your verbiage tight and concise. If your keywords do not relate to one another closely, consider breaking them apart as you would in the Adwords Editor grouping tool, onto different pages.
Be smart about your keywords and make sure you are only using words that your likely clients, are likely to type in. After all what good is top ranking on PlacementToday.com keywords nobody types in?
If you don’t know which PlacementToday.com keywords will be best from you, trying viewing the source of your competitors pages. This will reveal the words others are generally already having success with.
Polling clients, friends, colleagues, about what PlacementToday.com keywords they would use to find you could prove a free an invaluable resource for keyword selection. don’t be afraid to get creative!
Here’s a secret, don’t follow the beaten path, choose your own road. If you are a bank, don’t try to optimize on the keyword bank as it represents the most competition. Look for specific words, that are less competitive. The lowest hanging fruit is the easiest to pick!
Many tools are available for choosing keywords based on popular search statistics, PlacementToday.com uses the Google Adwords Keyword tool.
Never underestimate the power of PlacementToday.com keyword ranking in influencing the success of your Internet business. A lot of thought, careful research and hard work goes into the establishment of a successful business.
How To Write Effective Articles For Promoting A Website
August 26, 2008
Want to gain efficiency in writing quality articles? Dont worry; this article will guide you in writing articles efficiently. Anyone can become master in writing articles. Some things required for writing good article are determination, devotion and enthusiasm to learn the craft. Writing good articles is just like a craft, as it all requires is rich quality of workmanship. No one is born expert; everybody learns from practice, same is with article writing. Here are some of the points that will help you in writing good quality articles.
- Article marketing: This term refers an article writing process for e-zines and directories. These 350-500 word articles should be filled with keywords.
Such articles should include an authors resource box at the end of the article where you can insert some information about yourself. For example, youll want to include your name, some personal information, your real URL, and information on your product.
- Be an expert: You are required to be an expertise in your field of article writing. Reader should be familiar with you and your product prior to his/her visit to your website. This will impose them to purchase your product. Pay per Click traffic has less conversion rate then article marketing traffic.
- Consistency: Consistency is the real key to gain success in article marketing. Article should always contain relevant information.
- Use attractive headlines: Attractive headlines are essential for good articles. A good headline will jump out and catch your readers eye. Boring headlines will cause your articles to be left unread and business will slump until you hit bottom with no subscriptions and no sales.
- Use keywords: Keywords are most important part of any articles. Your web pages would rank by search engines on basis of keywords only. While search on internet, people also uses keywords. So try to place some well defined and known keywords in four to six words of an articles headline.
- Use short paragraphs: One can easily interpret short paragraphs. Huge paragraphs can also lead reader to select another article. So use short and meaningful paragraphs.
- Use bullet points, sub-headlines or numbers: This will make article more understandable to the reader. Also it will add charm to the article.
- Resource box: A resource box is located at the end of your article. This is your space to put your name and personal URL. Use it as another chance to attract readers by including information about your product. Call action comments, like visit us at can be quite useful.
- Write more articles: In order to maintain high traffic on your website, you must write daily. Weekly writing simply wont suffice. Since you will attract more people with more articles, establish reasonable goals for yourself, such as 5 articles a day or 25 articles each week.
All of these great suggestions will help you produce good, quality articles on a consistent basis.
Book Printing Layout: How to Save Money
August 26, 2008
Most people don’t think of the layout design of their book as an area that can impact the printing cost, but it can have an effect.
For example, most offset printers use 32-page signatures. This means that you will want to keep your page count divisible by 8, 16, or 32. A 130-page book can cost a fair amount more to print than a 128-page book, so it’s worth trying to figure out how to get rid of those two extra pages, if at all possible.
To get to an appropriately divisible page count, play around with the margins in your book. Make them a little smaller or a little larger.
A minor increase or decrease in the leading (line spacing) can have a major effect on the page count. I’ve had books where I’ve had to drop a couple pages to save cost, and just adjusting the leading by a small amount - maybe only 0.2 pt. - can get me those two pages.
Doublecheck with your printer to make sure they use standard 32-page signatures. You certainly don’t want to go through the hassle of adjusting your layout to squeeze an extra couple pages - only to find out that your printer uses 12-page signatures instead.
One last area that can save money on the print run is by rethinking the trim size of the book. Too many times I’ve seen customers insist on a specific print size when adjusting it by 1/4″ or 1/2″ would save them quite a bit of money. Why is that? Because different trim sizes are set up differently on different presses. A trim size that works well on one press might generate a lot of paper waste on another press. And guess who pays for that extra paper waste - you!
So don’t be afraid to ask for help from your printer sales rep. And shop around. See if the trim size you have in mind might work better for a different printing plant. Or see if you can get recommendations from a plant as to what trim sizes work best for them. Minor variations can save a lot of money on your book publishing in the end.
Using Testimonial Examples To Boost Online Profits
August 25, 2008
Many marketers are seeing the benefits of adding text, audio and even video testimonials to their websites. The power of using examples from satisfied clients can be quite amazing.
The use of unique testimonial examples from previous customers that have realized your product or service to be beneficial, is very compelling and makes a statement to your traffic visiting your site like nothing else can do.
A large part of the human equation in today’s market is buyers remorse. No one really wants to buy anything online that they might regret later. With so many products and services being hyped online today, many consumers are wary of purchasing something they will be sorry for later. This is where the power of testimonials can work for you.
Establishing trust in your product and your business is essential if you are to make sales and ultimately profits. If potential customers don’t trust you then they probably won’t buy.
This is where testimonial examples help these potential customers to trust you and what you are selling. When someone is openly praising you and the product or service, it makes the buying decision so much easier for your web visitors. They feel that if it worked out for others then it should be fine for them too.
Did you know that reading the positive experiences of others can be an important deciding factor in the whole buying process? If there is a choice to be made, then they may buy from the site with the most testimonial examples, especially if competing products are very similar.
It’s not difficult to get testimonial examples and you should keep doing this, constantly adding fresh ones to your marketing materials. Most satisfied customers will be delighted to say something positive. You just have to ask!
It’s surprising how often a satisfied customer is delighted to tell the whole world about it.
If you have not been using testimonial examples to market your service or products, you are missing out on one of the best marketing tools at your disposal. The two questions on any prospects mind are, “Is this for real? Does it work for anyone else?” With a few testimonials from satisfied customers, you can answer these questions for your prospects and see your profits soar.
Testimonial Examples
August 25, 2008
Are you using the awesome power of testimonial examples on your website yet? You could be missing out on lots of potential sales if you’re not.
Testimonial examples from some of your satisfied customers can make a very powerful and compelling statement to all the visitors that come to your website.
A large part of the human equation in today’s market is buyers remorse. No one really wants to buy anything online that they might regret later. With so many products and services being hyped online today, many consumers are wary of purchasing something they will be sorry for later. This is where the power of testimonials can work for you.
Think about any purchases you make online. You not only want to feel that you can trust the product but also the seller, right? If there is no trust then you’re less likely to get a sale.
What testimonial examples will do is allow the consumer to put their trust in the product or service and ultimately, in you. When a person is declaring to the world that the product is great and has all of the benefits that can be expected, then the person that is visiting your website feels in a safer position to purchase the product.
An indecisive potential customer can be finally converted by reading all the positive experiences of others. So start collecting and using testimonial examples on your website to generate more conversions. You’ll be really glad you did.
Using testimonial examples within your website should be closely observed. It is not difficult to get fresh testimonials from previous or present customers. Simply contact a few satisfied customers of your products, asking them for a few kind words about it.
It’s surprising how often a satisfied customer is delighted to tell the whole world about it.
You really should be using testimonial examples to help promote your product or service as they are great marketing tools. Try to use them to overcome any doubts in your prospects mind. Start doing this today and you’ll really see your profits dramatically improve.