Your manuscript is done, edited and you’re ready to get it out to the world! This is the point where many authors make an epic mistake. They decide that they will just create a PDF document to download off their website or do a digital version through Kindle. Of course, eBooks are a great thing to have in addition to printed copies. Nonetheless, you must have a paperback book; it is your golden ticket.
I was lucky enough to learn this lesson the easy way. I’m not a fan of eBooks; I don’t even own a Kindle. I love having a real, physical book in my hand to touch it, flip through the pages and carry with me. So the first thing I did was print an actual book. I didn’t even think about uploading to Kindle until almost a year later. This was beneficial to me because I carried my book with me everywhere, and I still do to this day. It’s getting a little cumbersome now that I have three books (four, if you count this one). However, the point is that the physical book is what will open doors for you.
I took part in a joint book signing with CNN’s Senior Copy Editor, John Dedakis, from “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” A lady who was a former anchor on CNN was holding a writer’s seminar in Sarasota, Florida with John as the speaker. She had him signed up for multiple TV interviews, book signings, and a four day event with another local author. The local author backed out at the last minute for one reason or another. Frantically she looked around for another writer. She knew the man who ran a writer’s meet-up in Tampa that I was a part of. I had just launched my first book at my own fabulous book singing party which he attended. So he gave her my contact information. She called me up and the first thing she asked me was, “Do you have a book?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“No,” she said. “I mean do you have a physical book you can set up for display and autograph?”
“Yes,” I replied again.
If I only had a Kindle version or a PDF, I would have not been able to take advantage of that opportunity.
You must have a physical book. If you go on TV interviews they want to hold it and show the audience. They will take still shots of it to display while you are talking. Radio stations may request that you send them a copy so they can read it prior to your interview. To do your book launch you want stacks of them at your table to autograph. I have been on ABC, Daytime TV, FOX, Channel 10 News and SSN; I wouldn’t have gotten those interviews without a book. Furthermore, no one will ask you who published it. Self-published or big publisher, they don’t care! As long as you have a book in your hands no one cares how it got there. I’ve been interviewed over 100 times and not one person asked me where I published it. They only ask me where they can buy it. I reply, “On Amazon.”
by Tara Richter
Richter Publishing 