50% Off Your Publishing Package This November in Xlibris

                                      I got a very nice tip today in my email today.

Christmas Comes Early
All Publishing Services Discounted By 50%
  
This November at Xlibris we are getting into the spirit of giving early this year. In fact, we are so caught up in the season of cheer, that we just can’t wait to get started. So, this November we are giving away publishing at half the regular price.

That’s 50% off whatever book you wish to publish. Enough said. All the publishing features at half the price is a deal you just can’t miss.
                       
Don’t hesitate, Xlibris’ Half-Price special is for a limited time only, so call today at 1-888-795-4274, or e-mail us at and celebrate an early Christmas with Xlibris.

            What a great way to start November yes? I hope you enjoy All Saint’s Day with your families.

The Importance of Book Reviews

When they say bad publicity is still publicity, they weren’t considering book publicities. After a new book release has been published, book critics and even writers devour its content and giddily scavenge for anything they can criticize on. Constructive or destructive, would you say your book could be better off without book reviews? It’s widely accepted knowledge these days that readers trot sometimes to Amazon and Publisher’s Weekly to read their reviews.

Publisher’s Weekly is one. New York Review of Books is another. Kirkus Reviews is major. If your book is all great shakes, your readers would be enamored. If it doesn’t, they will also be enamored. Book Reviews are not just fillers book critics use to place on your hardcover published books. Book reviews are coverage of one’s success and failure is not just the only thing that readers would read in newspapers or any periodical. As writers, we should also support other writers in the community. Not only this will give us insight on how they write, we will also be aware of writing styles apart from ours. So many books, so few reviewers! You don’t have to be an editor of a reputed magazine/periodical just to make your review sound authoritative. Even the simplest characters can actually make a huge difference. Yes, an individual book review helps.

Digital Publishing and Libraries Through Kindle and Sony Reader

The advent of digital publishing clearly paved way for gadgets to take over your favorite published paperbook. Is this the good time to take stock? Because of digital books, or ebooks,  there an imminent demise of a good paperback, hardback or leather bound book. Since everyone would most likely consider the internet as a major network for communication, the digital revolution totally transformed the publishing world. If large-named publishers will be reluctant to experiment, they might be left high and dry.

The online world continues to expand at a very overwhelming rate, and it is very much a case of get ahead, or be left behind. Electronic book publishing is also fast becoming the “in” thing in the publishing industry, and with the launch of the Amazon Kindle and the latest line of Sony Readers, it opens up a whole new universe of readers as well as authors.
These are some of the differences between the eBook and printed books: Source: Wikipedia

Advantages

* An e-book can be purchased, downloaded and used immediately, whereas when one buys a book one has to go to a bookshop, or wait for a delivery.
* There are over 2 million free books available for download as of Aug 2009.
* Educational text books (e-textbooks) can be distributed at a lower cost than print versions per student.
* Second generation e-books (and colour e-readers) have motion capability.
* e-Books can be printed for less than the price of traditional new books using new on demand book printers.
* Text can be searched automatically and cross-referenced using hyperlinks.

Xlibris Retooled and Rebranded Publishing Packages

When book publishers shun old prices before launching a new line of packages that are far more better and bigger, maybe that’s where the phrase “Out with old, in with the new” come from. We have heard of this book publisher’s announcement of increasing their publishing packages but the rebranding and retooling was far more than what we have expected. Xlibris, the leading self-publishing company introduces improved Line of Publishing and Marketing Services. Here are some of the newly added publishing packages that Xlibris now offers:

The Children’s Publishing Packages
These are packages that caters who authors who are writing children’s books. The Xlibris Art Studio will bring your children’s books’ story to life with illustrations and customized layout. Each package has a set number of illustrations that are allotted for the book.

Childrens’ Ballad
Children’s Dreamtime
Children’s Fairy Tale

You can check out the Children’s Book’s Publishing Packages features here.

Additional Services
Apart from giving you top of the line services such as copyediting, book interior designing, getting your copyright and all, additional services will help you customize and complement your publishing package the way you see fit.

Custom Illustration Service
Cover Design Service
eBooks
Custom Cover Upgrade
Online Book Search

The Life of A Manuscript

Ever wondered how your book production works? After all the heaving, you finally decided on a book publisher who will handle the rest of publishing your book and you wanted to know for yourself how exactly these book publishers really turn your manuscript into book form. Mind you, this illustration on how to turn your manuscript into book form is for authors who opted to self-publish their book.

After selecting your program, a submissions rep will call you for the completion of your materials needed for production. He will be giving you instructions and will be guiding you on what to do.

After completion of your materials, it will be sent to the author services rep for production.  He will be the one in charge for the layout of your book. And will be the one who’s going to transform your manuscript into a book form. Once the layout of your manuscript in soft copy is finished, an electronic galley or proof is sent to you for you to check and review. Should you require changes, corrections, adjustments and revisions on the layout we will accommodate those at this stage. We will not proceed to the next stage unless you approve the galley.

Once the galley is approved they will then move to the next stage which is the author review copy stage. We will send you a printed copy of your book, the actual book. It is for you to check and review the quality of the product: the quality of the printing, binding, and paper used.

The turn around time for publishing relies heavily on both parties’ cooperation – if the author hardly responds to the publisher’s requests – approval for formatting, etc – then this will greatly affect production time.

Entire Publishing Process:

3-4 mos    regular
2-3 mos    expedited

Submissions
w/n 2 – 3 BD        rep will call author
2 – 3 Business Days    review of materials

Initial production
10 BD    interior/cover formatting & design

Corrections
10 BD    author will get 2nd set of proofs after corrections

Author Copy
2 – 3 weeks    printed, bound author review copy

Marketing – Printed materials
4-6 weeks after approval + priority S&H

Channel Availability
24 hours    after the receipt of the approval, book will be available in XL website
60 – 90    after the receipt of the approval, book will be available through the Channels
(free for TP / $499 for PB – good for 2 years)
2 – 3 weeks    after payment for reinstatement

Galleys
tradebooks
2 – 3 weeks + S&H    for the corrected galleys to be sent / from the time we receive the correction
picture books
3 – 4 weeks + S&H    for the corrected galleys to be sent / from the time we receive the correction

Author Copy
10 – 15 business days printing of the paperback format of the book
15 – 20 business days printing of the hardback format of the book
Refunds:
2 – 3 weeks    thru CC
3 – 4 weeks     thru Checks