///Alexandra Adams: Author of Erotic Novels///

Saturday, May 04, 2002

Treat yourself to a sensual thrill! Buy a sexy novel at http://www.sexynovels.com/.

In my last entry, I discussed means of finding reviewers willing to critique your book, and the pros and cons of putting out a POD edition of your masterpiece. Today, I’ll touch on electronic covers.

Electronic Covers. What Are They, And Must The Self-Published Author Get One?

When a work of literature is sold as an e-book, quite often the author will commission a graphic artist to make him or her an electronic cover. The more eye-catching this work of art is, the better.

A cover of this type is a .jpeg file. It can be used not only to adorn the initial page of the electronic version of the book, but also to advertise the book on the author’s Web site. For this latter purpose, it must be put into a smaller (thumbnail) format. The thumbnail version can be sent to other Web sites, should the author opt to pay the cost of promoting his or her book on some other site.

The artist can use the same design to create a 300 dpt .tif file, in case the author ever decides to sell a print-on-demand paperbound edition of his or her book. Printing companies cannot use .jpeg files to make paper covers. A .tif file must be created in the book size the printer uses, so the author should study the specifications demanded by the printer he intends to employ, before contacting the artist. The POD version of my novel is a paperback 5 x 8 inches in size, so that is the size of the .tif file.

Commissioning an artist to create an original design for a graphic image can be costly. Query first regarding cost, should you contact an artist. If you can’t afford to hire an artist, you can use a program such as WordArt to create a colorful title page. That’s better than having no striking initial page in the e-book you sell.

All of my covers have been created by a graphic artist named Mia Manders, of Rocketshipmedia.com. (http://www.rocketshipmedia.com) To see what my thumbnails look like, go to this URL: http://www.sexynovels.com/catalog.html

Most of these images on my catalog page are 275 x 212 pixels in size. The image I use in the .PDF file of the e-book is 3.85 inches x 2.98 inches.

Why this particular size? When the buyer opens the .PDF file, the first thing he or she sees is this image. It must be small enough to fit on the page so as to be fully visible before the buyer does any scrolling down the page. If it’s too large, so that the viewer must scroll down to see it all, the impact of the image gets woefully lessened.

When you import a graphic image into the program you use for creating your Web pages, you can alter the original size. Right-click on the image to see what its properties are, and then re-format it, should that be necessary.

A striking, unique cover-image helps sell books!

Alexandra Adams 5:08 PM

Monday, April 22, 2002

Got the spring blahs? Buy an erotic novel at http://www.sexynovels.com!

In my last entry, I discussed how to publicize your site on search engines and directories. Now, I’ll say a few words about the importance of getting your book reviewed.

Seeking Reviewers Willing To Write A Critique Of Your Book

There are many Web sites that specialize in reviewing books. Unfortunately, the reviewers at a goodly number of them will only review a hard copy. If your masterpiece exists only as an electronic file, you will encounter difficulties in finding reviewers willing to read it. Don’t let that discourage you, however. Do an exhaustive search of sites that either review books in all genres, or specialize in your genre. Write each a clear, concise, polite, grammatically correct, correctly spelled letter addressed to the person who handles reviews.

Acquire the habit of never firing off an e-mail to ANYONE—not even your relatives—unless you’ve proofread it first! Avoid embarrassment. Editors and reviewers automatically look for errors, and they’ll wrinkle up their noses if they see glaring errors leaping out at them from a message asking them to read your offering!

You may find that you encounter better luck finding a reviewer willing to read your e-book, if you ask someone who has a personal Web site devoted to several aspects of your genre—someone who occasionally posts a review on his or her site—than you will with the editor of a site devoted solely to reviews.

Once a reviewer writes a critique of your book—hopefully, a favorable one—be sure you thank him or her, whether the review is favorable or not. If it’s not, graciously tell the reviewer you’ve learned from the experience—that you’ll become a better writer for having heeded their criticism. Develop a thick skin. You WILL become a better writer by heeding constructive criticism. Also, be sure to ask for permission to quote from the review on a page of your site. Don’t post anything without receiving permission!

Print-On-Demand. What Is It, And Can The Author Self-Publishing On A Shoestring Afford It?

Print-on-demand means exactly that: when a customer orders the book, the author notifies the printer, who then prints one copy of the book.

If, after reading this far, you're still contemplating self-publishing, you’d better at least consider offering a POD version of your book. In my experience, dealing directly with the printer is cheaper and more satisfactory than paying some site that publishes e-books (like greatunpublished.com) to set up the POD mechanism for you. I use Digitz.net, which is a branch of Booksurge.com (which, by the way, owns greatunpublished.com). Send off an e-mail message to sales@digitz.net and ask for their latest document outlining publisher guidelines. That file covers how to begin a business relationship with Digitz.net.

Print-on-demand editions cost more to print than do books produced by conventional printing methods. A 240-page, 5 inch by 8 inch paperback will probably incur a printing cost of seven dollars and some cents for a single copy. There is also a one-time fee for setting up the print file. However, Digitz offers one feature that benefits authors greatly. They’ll print one copy, and mail it directly to your customer via Priority Mail, thus saving you the cost and the delay that would be involved if they sent the book to you, and you then had to send it to your customer. They usually send out a POD copy within 48 hours of its being ordered. I’ve found their service most satisfactory.

Although being able to order POD versions for yourself, so as to have hard copies to send to reviewers, and to take to book fairs and the like, constitutes a big benefit, you might well discover, as I have, that most of your customers order the e-book, because that version’s cheaper than the POD version.

In my next entry, I’ll discuss electronic covers. I’ll also say a few words about authors’ rights.
Alexandra Adams 6:48 PM

Saturday, April 20, 2002

Check out http://www.sexynovels.com/, if you like character-driven erotic fiction!

In my last entry, I discussed getting self-published. Here are my thoughts on publicizing your site.

How Can The Self-Published Author Promote His Or Her Web Site?

The first step begins during the stage in which you create your Web pages. You must insert meta tags into the HTML code of your index page, and into some of your other pages. Most programs for creating pages provide dialog boxes into which you can type the name, description, and keywords for your index page, and for any other pages you wish search engines to be able to find. However, it’s essential that you learn the optimum way to write a title, description, and keywords. For that, I suggest that you go to http://www.searchenginewatch.com, and click on the link Search Engine Submission Tips. Don’t just read them, fellow author. Study them. Absorb them. Cram as if you’ve got a semester final coming up right suddenly. Print them. Hang them on the wall above your computer, and follow the tips faithfully as you create meta tags, and submit your URL (the address of your index page: for example, http://www.yourdomainname.com) to various search engines.

Search engines typically take two months to put your URL in their database. Be patient!

A tip to beginners: whatever you do, DON’T spam a search engine. Don’t spam anybody, but if you enter your URL more than one time in a “List Your Site” page of a search engine or directory, you will end up banned from that outfit’s database. Take care in using services such as Submit Plus—services that enable you to submit to many search engines and directories at one time. This I’ve found to be a bad idea. If you accidentally hit the submit key twice, you’ve spammed a hundred or more search engines. You can do better by spending the time to access each engine’s “Submit URL” page, filling it out carefully, and submitting the required information. Take pains to write a concise, catchy description of your site: one you can copy and paste into the submission forms.

Follow Yahoo’s directions to submit to them. Take infinite pains not to make an error in doing so. Read their directions several times, and follow them exactly. Yahoo's editors don’t suffer fools gladly.

Google, in my estimation, is the most important search engine. However, they base their rankings on how many links your site has to other sites. They also power a number of other search engines. So it becomes necessary for you to create a link page, and then do an exhaustive search for sites similar to yours that might respond favorably to your polite, concise, grammatically correct, properly spelled request that they exchange links. That means, you provide a link to their site on your link page, and they provide one to yours on their link page. Place a link for them, tell them where they can view it, and then request a reciprocal link.

The more sites that link to yours, the better for your rankings.

I do not recommend that you pay any site that claims it will get your URL listed in a large number of search engines and directories. Don’t even contemplate going this route until you have made large numbers of individual submissions yourself. Some of those outfits rip you off.

Some sites request a banner exchange in lieu of a text link exchange. When you write to those, tell them you only place text links, and ask that they place a text link to your site. Don’t clutter up your index page with a flock of banners. If you create a link page, filling it with banners will make it take forever to download into the browsers of the people trying to view it. Also, hosting lots of banners on your index page will make your page slow to download.

You can achieve high rankings in the search engines that do not charge to list your site. I did! Doing so takes a wealth of hard work, however. Factor that knowledge in as you consider whether or not to self-publish!

As for search engines that do charge you to list your site, skip them. There are lots of free ones still. Get listed in those first.

Alexandra Adams 3:14 PM

Thursday, April 18, 2002

For a sensual thrill, go to http://www.sexynovels.com, and read a free chapter!

Yesterday, I introduced myself. Here are my thoughts for today.

Should An Unpublished Author Self-Publish On The Internet?

I’m often asked whether self-publishing forms a viable option for an author who tried and failed to interest an agent or editor in his or her novel. So, for what it’s worth, here’s some advice for those contemplating taking the plunge into self-publishing on the Internet.

Fellow author, the most important judgment for you to make is whether or not your masterpiece possesses the power to intrigue readers, even if that readership might be a narrow segment of the public. Let me say baldly that if you constantly and unwittingly make blatant errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and construction of paragraphs--errors you fail to correct--you’ll never acquire even a limited audience. Sadly, many aspiring novelists fall into this category. Even those who pride themselves on their ability to write clear, correct English prose need to proofread, proofread, proofread, and then ask a qualified friend to wield a blue pencil as that person peruses the supposedly error-free manuscript. I advise you to buy a large college dictionary and a good grammar text, and put heavy wear on both!

Don’t depend exclusively on MS Word to correct your grammatical errors. The authors of that program labored under numerous misconceptions regarding proper English, themselves!

Any reputable writer has to admit that the Internet abounds in poorly written fiction, a circumstance that makes finding truly worthwhile e-books in any genre difficult. The rewards of searching can be immense, nonetheless, for those aware that the conventional publishing industry caters to certain “star” authors, with the result that publishing lists in all genres grow ever more homogeneous, and fresh new voices get shut out of the mainstream in ever greater numbers. A determined Web searcher can locate a wealth of electronic books by mavericks writing offbeat, cross-genre, but totally fascinating fiction!

Once you rest certain that your masterpiece contains no errors, and will intrigue some specialized audience, you must then consider whether or not to self-publish on the Internet. Should you decide in the affirmative, you may find my experience helpful.

Your first chore will be learning to create Web pages and link them together. For this, you need a program such as Netscape Composer (Part of Netscape Communicator, a free program), or Homestead, or FrontPage, or some similar page-generating program. You must then learn how to use that program to create attractive pages. Mastering that art requires discipline and practice, for non-technical people such as myself. I consider it essential that the author control his or her own pages, maintaining the ability to change them quickly and easily, without needing to contact the Web hosting service.

Your next task will be to find an honest, reputable Web hosting service that gives a subscriber ftp access. I found mine by doing a search, asking for references before I signed up, and contacting those references. Luck favored me: the service I chose, Duluoz Networks, http://www.duluoz.net, proved to be extraordinarily satisfactory. Such a “virtual hosting service” charges a monthly fee in addition to the monthly charge you already pay your Internet service provider. If you contact Mike at Duluoz Networks, tell him you learned about his service from Alexandra Adams. I’ll benefit only by earning his gratitude.

At this point, if you’ve never acquired a domain name, you need to consider whether to get one, or use one that your web hosting service provides. I heartily recommend that you get one of your own, and pay the $15.00 cost of registering it for a year. An easy way to find out whether some name you want (for example, dannytheauthor.com, or whoopiebooks.net) is available, is to go to http://www.netsol.com, and use their process for finding an available domain name that suits you. Once you find a name you can use, don’t try to register it yourself. Ask your web hosting service to register it for you. In my experience, OpenSRS is the easiest domain name registration service with which to deal, and also the cheapest.

You’ll now need to purchase a program such as WS_FTP (not very expensive, and available at http://www.ipswitch.com) for transmitting your Web pages to the directory created for you by your virtual hosting service. You must also acquire software enabling you to create files that can’t be altered by your customers. I sell my novels as files in .PDF format. Adobe Acrobat software (which turns MS Word or WordPerfect files into .PDF files) is NOT cheap, but it’s easy to use: you just print the MS Word file to AcrobatPDFWriter instead of to your regular printer. The Adobe Acrobat Reader Program costs nothing, and comes already installed on most computers purchased for home use.

If you can't afford Adobe Acrobat 5.0, consider this. Microsoft Readerworks Standard, which can be downloaded at no cost by writers, converts manuscripts to Microsoft Reader Files (.lit format). Those can be read by readers willing to download the free Microsoft Reader Program. Adobe .PDF format, however, remains the format of choice for large numbers of people. Files in .PDF format can be read in any platform: Windows, Macintosh, etc. I found it a bit tricky to use Readerworks Standard, given that you have to do some adjusting to get the margins of your title page the way you want them, but the text looks great in that format.

So now, you have a site on which to promote and sell your books. To sell them, you need a way of collecting money from buyers. At the present time, the best and cheapest way for an author to do that is to join PayPal, and become a verified seller. For more information, go to PayPal.com.
I definitely do not recommend contracting with a credit card processing company. Their fees are too high. PayPal offers a much better deal to small businesses.

So. Now that you’re self-published, you must promote your site. I’ll get into that crucial endeavor tomorrow.
Alexandra Adams 3:02 PM

Wednesday, April 17, 2002

Who Is Alexandra Adams?

The self-published author of three (and soon to be four) erotic novels, I, Alexandra Adams, have been selling my books as .PDF files from my Web site, http://www.sexynovels.com/, since March of 2000. One of my novels, Gabrielle's Awakening, was offered as a featured alternate by Bookspan's Venus Book Club in November 2001. Another novel, Evolution Of An Affair, will be offered by Venus to its members next August.

What Philosophy Does Alexandra Adams Espouse Regarding The Writing Of Erotic Novels?

An admirer of classical erotica, I most emphatically believe that no social stigma ought to attach to the reading, writing, or publication of well-crafted literary works that celebrate sensual pleasure. My erotic novels target mature, sophisticated, uninhibited readers who frankly enjoy character-driven narratives featuring explicit sensual scenes. An author who writes passionately and evocatively of adventurous lovers, I consistently strive to fire the imagination and liberate the sensualist living within each of my readers.

What Sort Of Musings Will This Weblog Contain?

In the days to come, I'll be sharing my thoughts on topics such as censorship, self-publishing, the difficulties of getting erotic novels published in the mainstream press, the lumping together of erotic literature with hardcore pornography on the Internet, and the problems that lumping causes authors, as well as other ideas that strike me as important.
Alexandra Adams 1:02 PM