The Fast Fingers Blog

Are You a Self-Published Author? Here’s Your Guide to Own that Book Signing Event!

Written by admin | Thursday, 18 October 2012 03:01

So your books are already at hand and you are geared up to show off to the world that you are the next hottest novel author in town. As a self-published author, your biggest concern is on how to publicize yourself and your book on your very own. Unlike many authors who have had the opportunity to do a merger with huge publishing companies, self-published authors have to do all the work by themselves. As a self-published author, what are the next steps to be taken in order for you to seal the deal? Do you need to throw a posh book signing party in order for you to level up as a writer? Are you anxious of not being able to sell a copy of your novel? Fret no more. Be guided by these suggestions and own your book signing event like you are already a pro!

Plan Ahead

Making a book signing debut is as nerve-wracking as preparing for your 18^th birthday party. For some it might be as anxiety-filled as planning for one’s own wedding. A detailed type of planning should be done so everything goes smoothly during the day of the event itself. You have to consider the following aspects: venue, date, target audience, theme, and party coolers.

The venue is one big factor of defining the success of your event. As a self-published author, you have the option of holding your book signing party at the comforts of your own place or at the corner of a nearby bookstore. If you are expecting an intimate party with your closest friends and family, your own backyard seems to be the perfect spot for you to discuss them about your own book. If you want a bigger number of audience and prospect readers as well, all you need to do is to reach out to any local bookstore and confer with them about your future plans. If they give you the permission, then you are good to go.

The date is also a crucial detail. It is highly-recommended for you to throw your book signing party during paydays. People usually flock around the mall and bookstores during those times. You can also choose holidays and days before classes are officially resumed.

The theme of your event should connive well with the theme of your book or novel. If your book is about vampires, make your venue have an air of mystique or darkness. A black and red motif would suit the venue well. If your book is about love and romance, a few heart cutouts and hint of pastel colors should do the work. The key here is your creativity. Remember that you, being a writer, are creative enough.

Lastly, be prepared to stretch your budget a little bit more by preparing for your audience a little token of appreciation for their time and effort. You can arrange a cheese and cracker platter for a minimum of 20 people and a simple non-alcoholic cocktail for them. It will send them the message that you are not only a great author; you are also a thoughtful one.

Be Courteous

You are an amateur at this stuff. You are not a celebrity who gives autographs away just because you are good-looking or charming. Unless you are a celebrated author, people aren’t going to run after you just so you can have something to sign on. As a newbie to this industry, you have to wait patiently for people to come to you. This reality might upset you but not for too long if you know how to flash those pearly whites and if you are warm and friendly to your prospect readers (or buyers.) Remember that you are selling your book and at the same time, yourself as a writer. People will have a part of you which may or may not affect their lives. Your novel, once they have read it, will be a part of their everyday lives whether they like it or not. So make an effort to reach out and tell them more about your novel. Tell them who or what inspired you to complete it and why you think they should read it. If they want to take a picture of you or with you, never reject their simple request. Your readers are what make you a writer. As long as you have someone reading your works, you are not a total failure.

Good luck!

Published in Self-Publishing

Can You Accept the Literary Challenge?

Written by admin | Wednesday, 17 October 2012 15:50

To write or not to write?- that is the question. For amateur writers, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is an opportunity to showcase their writing prowess to other people. November, being the month designated for this kind of activity, allots 30 days for interested participants to finish a 50,000-word novel. NaNoWriMo is held annually and is open to anyone who wants to participate for as long as they register beforehand at http://www.nanowrimo.org/. This writing project is indeed a pursuit for the budding authors of today as it encourages thorough dedication and hard work. The key to finishing a novel is not really a secret after all. If you are eyeing the NaNoWriMo as your huge break for your literary prospects, then by means get signed up, think ahead and start sketching your plot and characters. The following tips might help you get through the 50, 000-word challenge:

Don’t Overthink! Write!

A problem which surfaces when you overthink is that things get too complicated. You wouldn’t want to complicate things at this point because writing a novel at NaNoWriMo should be a bump-free road with no traffic jams. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t encounter any difficulties or bouts of writer’s block. We all have that “Ah, what now?” moment. But to overthink of your plot, characters and the nature of your story’s conflicts will just make it harder for you to get started or go ahead.

Time is Essential

We have heard it before. Time is of the essence. When you only have 30 days to think of 50, 000 words to cramp in a hasty novel, the most important thing you have to consider again and again is how much time you still have. You can make a specific timetable for you to be able to complete the task. And since most probably, you have a job to attend to five days in a week, you can’t compromise your job for anything else. But hey! You are already here and you are determined to finish what you are planning to get started, right? You can’t back down. You can set aside a couple of hours every day to sit down in front of your computer and start writing. You have to finish an approximate number of 1, 700 words each day to have you reaching your goal of 50k words. It takes 21 days to form a habit. However, you only have 30 days to finish everything so the key here is to be consistent!

Slowly But Surely Doesn’t Work Here

Joining this event means winning. But winning doesn’t mean being judged by the quality of your work or how well-versed and well-edited your whole novel is. It doesn’t work that way. NaNoWriMo promotes otherwise instead. Quantity will always be the criterion. It doesn’t really matter if your plot is scrawny or your story is left hanging over the edge. The most vital thing you have to keep in mind is to hit the word limit. Think 50, 000 and you’ll be hailed as a winner. You have the bragging rights of a winner!

Write On!

November is not the start and end of your writing career as a novel author. It may be the start, fine. But the end is not of any proximity. You have plenty of time during the following months to smoothen out your novel. This means editing, realigning the contents and thinking big can be done after November. Quitting isn’t an option if you know that you are destined to do greater things. You are a writer. Write on!

Published in Good Reads

Happy National Teen Read Week!

Written by admin | Tuesday, 16 October 2012 06:34

The results of the 2012 Teens’ Top Ten Winners have been out yesterday and it seems that teenagers nowadays are a lot wiser when it comes to picking up books from the shelf. For quite some time, during the dawn of computers and other gadgets which distracted the youth from doing more productive activities like reading and writing, parents have been alarmed by the sudden halt of their children in expressing their interests for reading books. Thanks to the brilliance of today’s authors, literature has been more attention-grabbing; fascinating enough to seize the minds, hearts and eyes of our young readers.

The list of 2012 Teens’ Top Ten Winners include the following:

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

3. Legend by Marie Lu

4. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

5. What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

6. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

7. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

8. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

9. Where She Went by Gayle Forman

10. Abandon by Meg Cabot

If you are a parent who wants to develop good reading habits of your children, you can do many activities together for you to give them the impression that reading is a worthwhile hobby. The following tips can be of great help to you:

Start With Yourself

By being a good model to your child, he/she might also adopt your reading habits. Barack Obama read to his children all of the Harry Potter books before they went to bed every single night. You should make an effort to take the lead. By taking the lead, your children will most likely follow without having the feeling that you are mandating them to do so. This way, reading will be an enjoyable habit for them and for you as well.

Gift Them

By giving them reading materials such as the hottest books of today, they will appreciate the fact that you took time to stop by the bookstore and hand-picked the book by yourself. If you are uncertain which book they will have an interest on, you can bring them along with you as you visit a nearby bookstore and reward them with their favorite coffee and bagel afterwards.

Do Something Else in Between

Never force reading to them as they might take this a cue to resent the activity. If they want to go out with their friends, let them. If they want to play soccer or handball, allow them to enjoy the sunshine. Reading requires focus and attention. They cannot focus to what they are bound to read if their minds and hearts are somewhere else. Reading should be their comfort zone and not something they are anxious of doing.

List via ala.org

Published in Good Reads

Start Writing That Novel Now!

Written by thefastfingers | Tuesday, 16 October 2012 00:02

For several people, writing is sort of an escape. It is a catharsis for their overwhelming emotions and profound thoughts. For others, it can be a real calling. And there is no other way to answer that particular calling but to gather those pieces of paper, lift that pen and start writing. In our case today however, where high-end technologies have means to provide an edge for writers, one might only need just a few things to accomplish his/her dream of publishing a bestseller.

1. Drive to Begin

The hardest thing in getting something done is always at the beginning. In writing your novel, you really have plenty of things which you will have to consider- the genre, the target market (or your readers), researches which are critically necessary for your plot, the plot itself and potential attributes of your main character/s. Do not be intimidated by how crucial these things are because every aspiring author of any novel or book has similar concerns. Say you already have these necessary stuff to push through, the subsequent thing you should have a total grasp of is the total understanding on why you are making this specific novel. You have to have an undying inspiration before, during and even after writing everything down. Why have you written something about death? Maybe the answer is because you have met a cancer patient three years ago. You would have wanted for her to win the battle against her illness but nevertheless, she still lost. By writing down a portion of her life, you are reliving a memory of her which is invincible even by death itself. Such is the power of having the inspiration or drive to go on and do whatever it is that you want to accomplish.

2. A Steady Momentum

Once you have already started writing the first three chapters of your novel, it might really be tempting to stop and smell the flowers for a moment. It’s fine. The most successful authors and their well-acclaimed bestsellers were not made in just a single night. J.K. Rowling for example took her almost a decade to complete the seven books of Harry Potter and yet when they all came out, almost 50 million copies of them have been sold worldwide. As a writer, there will be times when you will run out of things to write. More often than night, you will suffer from ‘writer’s block’ where you cannot contemplate over a single word to jot down. It is totally normal. Just remember to slow down according to your own pace, have a very steady momentum. It may take you weeks, months or even years to complete your story. However, the most essential thing here is that you never lost your thrust. Keep going!

3. Audacity to Try Something New

The common pitfall of writers/authors is that they stay at somewhere which they are most comfortable with. Those who have always written on sci-fi are most likely to write about the same genre all throughout the course their writing career. This is but normal, most especially when one is already getting a decent amount of fame from his/her previous works. But as an author, the least thing you might want to be is to get too predictable for your readers. Many authors have been bold enough to go out of their comfort zones, switching occasionally from horror to humor. Do not be afraid of criticisms. “Her works in comedy are a lot better than her novels on self-help.” You might dread getting these kinds of comments but the best way to expand your horizons is by turning your world 180 degrees. Be receptive to criticisms because they will always be there whether or not you choose to.

Published in Good Reads

The Magic Goes On for Rowling

Written by admin | Saturday, 13 October 2012 12:34

jk-rowling Nobody in today’s generation have not had a close encounter with the magical realms of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Thanks to a bloody brilliant woman who dared to take the risk amidst her then very limited resources to pursue a series of seven novels. Years later, her works helped her became one of the most influential book authors in the whole world. Like the sudden transformation of her main protagonist in her novels who from an ordinary orphaned boy changed to the most celebrated wizard in the world of magic, J.K. Rowling transformed from an unemployed, single mother to one of the riches women in the whole of England. You might say it was magic that made her very successful but she could have believed otherwise. Maybe it’s courage and unwavering determination.

As the first chapter of her life as an author culminates, another chapter commences. Her second book entitled The Casual Vacancy, is not a ‘chip of the old block’ for it speaks nothing of casting spells, buying cauldrons, and moving staircases. Instead, it is heavily equipped with scandals, lies, sex and misbehaving parents and children. The story revolves around the British town of Pagford and how its locals have struggled to survive a not-so-silent war among themselves. Following the sudden death of Barry Fairbrother who suffered from brain aneurysm, the untimely mourning of the people has been overlapped by hasty desires to fill in a “casual vacancy” left by Fairbrother himself as parish councilor. As the plot continues to become more intense, it begins to unravel the true face of the small British town. Beneath Pagford’s lovely front-act is a grimy Pandora’s Box waiting to be opened. Everything is not what it seems and each of the novel’s characters has a dirty little secret tied into knots waiting to be loosened up. The place is filled with unfaithful marriages, provocative youngsters and scheming power-hungry characters who will do anything to pull and prove themselves on top to the detriment of those who are socially-deprived and economically-challenged.

The theme of Rowling’s new novel is not purely on scandals and deceit but on how people’s status in the society is defined by money, whether we like it or not. The obsession for money drives a man to seek for invincibility, making him cling to a higher source of power or position in the society. He does everything in his capabilities to plunge into the endless abyss of supremacy even if makes him evil. If you are seeking for a material which screams darkness and is seeping with outrage, The Casual Vacancy makes a good read. In this book, expect none of J.K. Rowling’s ‘Polyjuice potion’ to save your day. Every character was created and based upon reality. And even if for some readers, this novel was a duller version of her previous works, the magic goes on for J.K. Rowling.

Published in Good Reads

Tagged under

J.K. Rowling

Life Lessons as Nicholas Sparks Puts It

Written by admin | Thursday, 11 October 2012 12:38

The name of Nicholas Sparks has been very resonant as much as his novels get because he is one of the authors from the contemporary literature who makes an effort to really reach out to his readers (yes, he tweets.) After the success of his world-renowned novels like A Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Dear John and The Last Song, not to mention their critically-acclaimed film adaptations, Sparks did not seem to put out the fire just yet to his burning passion for writing and inspiring other people to the 3 L’s- loving, living life to the fullest and letting go. Even with his earnest attempts to create something fresh every time he begins a novel, his previous works which are The Safe Haven (September 2010) and The Best of Me (October 2011) did not deviate much from these three themes.The Safe Haven is embedded on a much more audacious approach as it speaks of taking risks when it comes to love and life. This novel has also tackled an issue in our society which is happening most likely in the corners of our own homes but is constantly being shoved at the back of the closet- domestic violence. When can somebody determine when the line has already been crossed? Is a black-and-blue love affair really worth it? How can a person start to let his/her guard down after having been hurt from previous experiences? Can love really be an enough fortress for someone?

The Best of Me on the other hand speaks of love having been reunited by a single course of fate or in this novel’s case, by a mentor of a former high school couple who died, obliging two people of now two different paths to come together once more. Even if the plot seems to be a revision from Sparks’ other novels like The Notebook which spoke about choosing security first before genuine love, The Best of Me, the story has a fair share of its own complexities which focuses on having an infidel marriage, dealing with an alcoholic spouse, and questioning one’s self about the decisions he/she has made earlier in his/her life. Is it wise to choose a secured life over the love of your life? Have you become that person you would have pitied twenty five years ago?

After seventeen novels and a recognizable amount of fame, Nicholas Sparks has been able to stay true to his commitment in moving his readers, letting them contemplate about life even further and stirring their hearts to the fullest. Nicholas Sparks is not just an ordinary author who writes to sell books and make dough. He is an author who experienced life itself.

Published in Good Reads

Tagged under

Nicholas Sparks

The Twists and Turns of Self-Publishing

Written by admin | Wednesday, 03 October 2012 12:59

A few years ago, the publishing industry did not offer an aspiring author much choice. Thus, if you were not publishing to make money, what exactly could you have ever hoped to achieve as an aspiring author? Bragging rights? For several thousands of dollars, say $5,000 or $10,000, an author could access mainstream editing, book formatting and publishing services, on condition that he commits to buying several copies himself, most of the time a thousand or more. Then what? For most authors, the titles gathered dust in their garages!

There are mainly to ways around the self-publishing business: assisted self-publishing that focuses on paperback publishing and eBooks and No-Frills online publishing firms. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Digital technology has come up as something of a game changer to make it possible for many self-published titles to see light of the day. Today, a wide array of options exists for a writer that has already been frustrated within mainstream publishing circles. It involves very simple steps to self-publish a title in the eBook format, thanks to assisted self-publishing firms. Even non-tech savvy authors can solicit professional book formatting services and deliver world class titles.

Additionally, a myriad of companies (especially online based) support Print on Demand (PoD) publishing, which has significantly reduced the burden on the part of the author in publishing and delivering titles into bookstores. With PoD, physical (paperback) copies of a title are printed when being purchased. On top of all that, assisted self-publishing companies will also render an array of services including, book formatting, cover design, marketing and publicity etc.

The success of self-publishing has become so phenomenal that self publishing has itself become the subject of many eBooks. Successful authors are now making a fortune out of telling their own success stories with self publishing or just shading some light on what may come off as a dark tunnel to non-published authors.

From an economic point of view, the thresholds for take-off in self-publishing have been lowered as authors gain more control of rights to their book and pricing.

However, studies indicate that most self-published titles are not doing very well in the market, especially as compared with those coming off mainstream production lines. According to reputable self-publishing company executives and authors, some titles sell fewer than 200 or even 100 copies. Honestly speaking, there are several phenomenal success stories in the self-publishing market. The most successful self-published authors will even attract lucrative deals with mainstream publishers. Just to be sure, authors can take advantage of the low costs in self-publishing and offer their titles at reasonably competitive prices.

Still, a greater proportion of self-published titles do not sell a lot of copies, according to Mark Coker, Smashwords’ founder and CEO. This is a fact that aspiring authors need to content with as they embark on their journey towards successful self-publishing.

The Fast Fingers invite all aspiring self-published authors to engage us for the best book-formatting, cover design and eBook conversion services.

Published in Self-Publishing

How to Set Up a Navigable Table of Content (TOC) in InDesign

Written by admin | Monday, 24 September 2012 12:43

A navigable TOC is one of the most critical eBook formatting features any title must have to enhance the reader experience. Since a TOC can only be added before successful conversion to ePub, it is necessary that as an author you enlist professional book formatting services especially during the process of in design to ePub Conversion.

You want to set up your document so that upon conversion to ePub, it opens with a navigable table of content to the left. Any eReader will look for the TOC in your eBook once it opens up. The TOC headings appearing on the left may then be clicked so that the eReader jumps automatically to the associated content in the document.

Setting up an Adobe InDesign TOC for a single document with several chapters

Adobe InDesign has a perfect TOC feature you can employ before converting to ePub. The way this works, you do not add the TOC to the InDesign document; rather, you apply an InDesign TOC style that’s used to determine creation of navigation links in the TOC. Follow the steps below to set up the TOC style for your document:

1. For starters, determine where you want your navigable eBook chapters to start. Then, make sure to distinguish each chapter start with a specific paragraph style. This helps InDesign to distinguish chapter headings and starts from the rest of the text and objects in the document. Apply the Subhead paragraph style to all headings that mark the start of new chapters in your document. It is important that you apply the same paragraph style to chapter headings on the same TOC level.

2. Through the layout menu, click the Table of Contents Styles to bring up the Table of Contents Styles dialog box

3. Click on the ‘New’ button to create a new TOC from scratch. The New Table of Contents Styles dialog box comes up. Give the new TOC style a unique name, say “epub”. You do this by editing the TOC Style textbox, which by default reads “TOC Style 1”.

4. Under the “Other Styles” section, choose the Subhead option (this is the style you’ve already applied to the chapter starts). Click on the “Add” command, which is available to the left of the Other Styles section. The new style automatically appears in the “Include Paragraph Styles” section.

5. Click OK.

At this stage, the TOC style has already been added and appears in the list of Styles available as indicated in the Table of Contents Styles dialog box. However, you have not yet told InDesign to use it. For now, click Ok to close the box.

1. You tell InDesign to apply the TOC style as you convert your document to ePub. You use the file menu to export, where a “Save As” dialog box comes up. Save the document to bring up the “Digital Editions Export Options” dialog box.

2. Click on the Contents menu item, and on the EPUB Contents panel to the right, check (select) the “Include TOC entries” box.

3. Under TOC style, choose epub, which is the name you gave to your TOC Style.

4. Also, select “Suppress Automatic Entries for Documents” and “Use First Level Entries as Chapter Breaks”.

5. Export

At this stage, your eBook already has a navigable TOC.

The Fast Fingers book formatting services can help you with the creation of a more complex but navigable TOC for your eBook.

Published in Book Formatting

Blurb: Finding Its Way from Traditional to Digital Publishing

Written by admin | Tuesday, 11 September 2012 04:55

While still in the traditional publishing scene, Blurb had already gained popularity as an unruly and uncontrollable player. Launched 6 years ago, this company has allowed anyone to write and publish his or her book at reasonable costs thus building a profitable and stable business since its inception. Despite this success, Blurb wants to achieve more by tapping into the digital publishing landscape.

Just this summer, Blurb had rolled out its software platform which is designed to create and distribute eBooks to different multimedia-enabled channels. A lot of traditional publishing companies have encountered challenges in going digital but Blurb still wanted to give the new method a try.

When asked about this new business strategy, Blurb CEO and founder Eileen Gittens explains that the company wants more despite the success of its core business. And with the technological advancement that the world had experienced in recent years, it is only fitting for traditional businesses to start embracing the changes as well.

If you are going to ask the reason why Blurb could shake the publishing industry so easily, it is probably because of the way they approach all the aspects of publishing. For instance, they hire staff whose careers are not built on the publishing industry. But rather, they hire people from the tech space because they know for a fact that they are going to enter the eBook industry along the way.

Another reason why traditional publishing companies are left behind is the huge expense entailed when publishing the works of star authors. With Blurb, the marketing and distribution model employed is from author to consumer so the issues about cost cannot be felt even when dealing with a bestselling author.

The increasing revenue and profitable operations are just two factors that make Blurb very attractive to potential acquirers. A good number of large public companies have already approached management and offered M&A and IPO options. But the right candidate has not yet come along so there is nothing much that we can hear about this as of now.

Do you find the book-making process hard to accomplish? If you are an independent publisher who is clueless about the requirements of uploading book cover design and content, you may hire the experts at The Fast Fingers to do the job.

Published in Self-Publishing

What You Need to Know About Ingram Content Group

Written by admin | Saturday, 08 September 2012 07:14

As the standard in the book industry, Ingram has been a pillar to whom retailers, publishers and librarians look up to all these years. It is considered as the global leader in the wholesale distribution of books. With more than 2 million titles, Ingram will give you immediate access to these books if you do business with them.

Ingram can offer quick delivery of orders, exceptional inventory and unparalleled service. Especially for booksellers in the United States, this amazing book company can help small businesses survive and succeed. Librarians and booksellers can also rely on the fast and reliable services that Ingram can offer no matter which part of the globe you are from.

Both big and small publishers have worked with Ingram in marketing books and reaching their targeted readers. Up-and-coming publishers will surely come to appreciate the resources that they can use to market their titles. Whether the goal is to publish just a few books or hundreds of titles, there are special tools that have been assembled to meet the different demands for a growing business.

One secret that has contributed much to Ingram’s success is the great importance they give to their suppliers. They optimize business relationships by providing a wide range of services that allow publishers to be as close to the market and sales activity as possible.

At present, Ingram is already working with over 25,000 publishers from all over the world. The options for publishers have become more varied now that Ingram offers services like full distribution, digital formats, print-on-demand and wholesale distribution. Librarians also receive tremendous support from this book company through the different kinds of programs and inventory that are specially designed to meet the needs of libraries of academic, public or K-12 nature.

More importantly, the Ingram family is composed of dedicated people who have a passion for books. It employs more than 3,000 associates coming from different countries whose mission and goal is to help publishers reach a wider audience. This is the edge that helps the company become a giant in today’s book industry.

Not all authors have the knack to carry out the publishing process all by themselves. And this is the reason why The Fast Fingers offer high quality services to those who would like to hire expert assistance in completing the book-making process.

Published in Self-Publishing

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