The journey usually starts with a friend or family members telling you maybe you should get your work of poetry publish because it is so good. You probably said, “I don’t think my work of poetry is good enough for others to read. I only write to share with friends.” Well, maybe it was not quite like that, but usually we always start by sharing our work with friends and families. As time passed, you probably continued sharing your poetry and you continue to hear the praise coming from their lips about how good your poetry is. You convinced yourself maybe it would not be a bad idea to at least try to see if anyone would give you an opportunity and publish your work.

This is probably where your journey into the dark side of publishing started. Everyone in the publishing industry turns your work down. The letters are saying things such as: “that it’s not what we are looking for right now.” Your self-esteem stumble and all your friends and family who always praise you continued with their encouragements, but you know your chances are close to zero on getting a major publishing house to publish you. Then you start to hear about self-publishing and went to Google to locate a self-publishing company to help bring your dream to realty. The sales representative tells you how you can create your own book and own the rights to your work and the royalty will better than industry average. The only thing is, you would have to share in the cost of the publishing.

You agree and $1,200 later you have your book. You went to all your friends and most him purchase a copy, though it was way over price, but they did it to support you. After you sold your friends a few of your poetry books, you sat around waiting for the self-publisher’s website to help you generate sales, until they told you have to pay more money if you want a promotional campaign for your book. Now you realized you did not even break even from the first $1,200 you spent; now they want you to pay more money. If you are smart you would stop. Today, I want you to know you are not alone.

My name is Gamelz and here at www.ipublishabook.com you will get a chance to read all of my books for fre. I always wanted to write and publish books just like you, but never realize the challenge I would face trying to get a publisher to look at my manuscript. I went the route you always hear a writer should not go, and that was to self-publish. I write short-stories and poetry. I realized this genre has very little appeal to book publishers because they are not able to generate a profit from that type of publishing. Once my book came from the printing company, I realized very quickly I was not going to generate huge sales and that I needed to share it with others. So, I decided to create this website www, ipublishabook.com and offer the book for free to those who want to read it.

I did not write to make money. I wrote it because I enjoy writing and wanted to share it with others. This site www.ipublishabook.com will include my entire writing portfolio, again, for free. As an aspiring writer, I am always looking to be part of a new and exciting project. Please take a look around to see my site www.ipublishabook.com and read my work and my distinctive style of writing and let me know what you think about www.ipublishabook.com I would appreciate it very much. I would conclude by saying for you not to give up on your dream to publish poetry or any other style of writing; it is a wonderful feeling to share your publish work.

When you look at the numbers, it’s clear that the New York publishing scene is a tough nut to crack. The reality is that with 83% of Americans wanting to write a book, the competition for a publisher’s attention is steep. So what’s an author to do? Well, if your attempts for finding a traditional publisher aren’t bringing any results, maybe it’s time to think like a publisher, instead of an author.

Writing a book is the easy part and while publishers look at writing style and voice, there’s a whole lot more that goes into a successful book than just how well it’s written. When it comes to success, a publisher looks at this much differently than an author does. Truth be told, a publisher gauge’s a books potential success largely by the author. Now don’t misunderstand me, there’s market consideration as well but the authors “saleability” is looked at very closely. What we refer to as a “platform” is something all authors need to have, regardless of their target market. A platform is not who you know, but who knows you. It’s your area of influence. A platform can be any of the following:

- Your business

- Your fan base

- Speaking gigs you have coming up

- Your email list of potential buyers (i.e. fans)

- Your web site (if your site is drawing traffic and capturing email addresses)

- How well you’re known in your market

If you’re new to the book world (meaning this is your first book) you may not have a single item on the above list in your vault of marketing tools. That’s ok. Now’s the time to build them.

The next piece of this is to write for a market. Over the years I’ve seen countless authors write a book on something for which there is no market. They believe their book will create the market. This won’t happen. Ever. First, if you’re self-publishing a book you probably don’t have the funds available to you to “create” a market even if you wanted to. You may respond to this by saying “Yeah, but new markets are created every day.” And yes, this is true, what’s also true is that while it may seem that these are “new” markets, they were in fact already existing but, perhaps, untapped. Finding these markets can cost you a fortune in consumer research, advertising, product/book placement, etc. When a company like Coca-Cola decides to put out a brand new product you can bet that millions of dollars has gone into this prior to the launch. When authors come to me and say “I have a great idea and it’s never been done before.” I suspect there’s a reason why, a publisher will too. Now, let’s say that you’ve done the research, you’ve spent years working in this arena and you know there are readers out there. Millions of them. If this is the case then I’d suggest you show up, armed with your (current) research and data.

The ability to self-publish your book has (thankfully) brought a number of books to the attention of a traditional publisher that might have otherwise gone overlooked. Why? Because publishers like what other people like. If you have a book that you’ve self-published and it’s done well, a publisher might consider this for commercial access as well. By “commercial” I mean consumer, trade paperback, mass market. The key is to keep a close eye on the track record of the book and document your success. This form of documentation will later become the resume you use to entice a publisher into considering your book.

I was talking to an author the other day who had a great idea. He had a hard time getting a traditional publisher interested in his book so he self-published with the intent of getting a major house to publish him. With that in mind he solicited referral letters from bookstores. Why bookstores? Because if you can get a bookstore excited about your book and telling publishers it “flew off the shelves” you’ll be a step closer to piquing a publishers interest. Why? Well many (if not all) publishers will solicit the advice from booksellers on the sales potential of a book they’re considering. They do this because they know that the bookseller is front and center with the consumer everyday. They see what sells and what doesn’t. Having a bookstore (preferably several) in your corner could be a tremendous thing for your future and the future of your book.

And finally let’s be realistic. With 800 to 1,000 books published each day in the US the competition is fierce for gaining the buyer’s attention. Your book is your resume and because of this, needs to be letter perfect. You should never wait for a traditional publisher to come along and “polish” your book, it should be gleaming with perfection. Yes, there are always things you’ll want to change after it’s published but having a book that’s edited with a cover that sparkles will not only get you noticed by a publisher, but by your reader as well. And in the end, it’s the reader we must reach. Once you do, the world will beat a path to your door.

With an outstanding record of accomplishment in the publishing industry, Xlibris, the leading self-publishing company offers a wide variety of publishing packages to writers and photographers who desire to become published authors.For the remaining few days of October, the book publishing company confidently urges writers and photographers to present a publishing package or offer from a competitor – one which is advertised on their website – that tops any Xlibris offer or publishing package.The self-publishing company guarantees to not only match the competitor’s offer, but to beat it as well by giving the writer or photographer more features, more marketing services, and doubling the number of free book copies included in the package. That is something Xlibris is willing to back with their years of experience in the publishing industry.The self publishing promotional offer can be taken advantage of until Friday, October 31, 2008 when writers and photographers choose to self-publish their books of with Xlibris, whether in full color or in black and white.Find out more of at the Xlibris book publishing website, or by calling 1-888-795-4274 or by emailing publishtoday[.]xlibris.com.About XlibrisXlibris was founded in 1997 and, as the leading publishing services provider for authors, has helped to publish more than 20,000 titles. Xlibris is based in Philadelphia, PA and provides authors with direct and personal access to quality publication in hardcover, trade paperback, custom leather-bound, and full-color formats.For more information, please visit the Xlibris website, e-mail pressrelease[.]xlibris.com or call at 1-888-795-4247, to receive a free publishing guide.