Tim H. McEnroe

Alright! Update #2! Woot! Two updates in less than a month. That’s something special.

My apologies ahead of time — this is going to be a bit on the longer side, but it’s because I actually got a lot done since the last post.

First, the most exciting thing for me… the cover.

Sorry, I’m not going to show it yet. Maybe closer to the publication date. I got the final edits back from 100 Covers the other day. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am with how it turned out. In about a week from first signing up with them, I got both the eBook and audio book covers. I’m not planning on an audio book yet, but it was included with the package, so why not? Eventually, I’ll get my novel available in paperback, and when I do, I’ll just reach out to them for the ‘print package’. The cost will only be the difference between what I paid for the eBook/audio book package and this new one. So not bad. The price is very reasonable, and they do a great job. I highly recommend them. I still have to add it to the book, but there’s no hurry as of yet. More on book compilation and the meta data to include (ISBN, copyright page, BISAC / Genre / Keywords, etc.) later.

Next up, ISBNs and LCCNs and Copyrights (oh my!)

This is what I gathered from my research regarding ISBNs: An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique identifier for your book and it’s format. That last part is important. If you have your book in eBook format, that’s one ISBN. If it’s also in paperback format, that’s another. I think I might eventually need up to four (if I go with hardcover and audio, that is).

So how do you get an ISBN. There are two ways:

1. Purchase your own from Bowker (the only legitimate source for purchasing ISBNs in the US)
2. Use the free one given to your book by the publishing platform you upload to (Kindle Direct Publishing, Draft 2 Digital, Ingram Sparks, etc.)

Option 2 sounds very, very, very enticing, especially when you’re on a budget like I am. But the problem (at least the way I understand it) is that the book tied to that ISBN must remain on that platform. So say you choose to publish your book on Amazon (KDP) and then later decide you want the book to be available in public libraries or Barnes and Noble (maybe by going through a wide distribution network like Draft 2 Digital or Ingram Sparks)… well, nope.

Your book — whether an eBook, paperback, etc. can’t be purchased anywhere but Amazon. They own the ISBN. You could, I guess, upload another copy of that format to one of those other platforms and use their free ISBN, but I think that leads to some sort of disconnect — like your book on Amazon and your book on the other platform(s) come across as different books (remember… one format, one ISBN). There’s a lot more to this, so maybe there are ways around it, but to me is sounds like too much of a headache to deal with. So, I opted to use my own ISBN. It’s mine. I can upload my eBook to, say, KDP and Draft 2 Digital at the same time, and there will be no disconnect and no problems because it’s the same eBook across all sites.

Okay, so I have my ISBN (two actually — one for eBook and one for my eventual paperback. You can buy them ahead of time).

Next up: the LCCN or the Library of Congress Control Number. Getting your LCCN is free, and free is great. From my understanding, it’s not mandatory to get an LCCN for your book, but doing so allows librarians and book dealers to quickly find your book’s official record in national library databases and allows your book to appear in libraries. And who wouldn’t want that… especially when it’s free? You go the Library of Congress website and fill out the pertinent info. Note that you’ll need to input your ISBNs, so getting your ISBNs is step 1. Eventually, when the paperback copy of the book is published, I’m supposed to upload it to their site. So I have to remember to do that. Also note there is one LCCN for the book, no matter the format.

Copyright. I haven’t officially done this yet. I’m probably going to, but at the moment, I’m still thinking about it. According to what I found, your creative work is automatically copyrighted the moment you create said work (in the US anyway). Having an official copyright from the US Copyright Office is for added protection, but I have yet to figure out exactly what that means. What I do know is that it’s not free. Once I get more info and have more time, I’ll look at it again.

That’s a lot of info so far. I found it helpful to put it all in a spreadsheet I’m calling ‘Master Book Metadata’. I’ll use this one spreadsheet for all my books. There’s a snippet below, but basically it has all the info listed above and more. I’ll gladly share details. Just ask.

Email Address and Mailing Lists

I created an email address separate from my personal one — my thought being that anything reader-facing (Goodreads, this blog, social media sites, mailing lists, etc.) should be associated with an email address designated for that purpose. My accounts for things like Bowker, Library of Congress and my publishing platforms (KDP and Draft 2 Digital) will remain linked to my personal email address, since readers don’t see those things anyway. The same thought process goes for social media. I plan on creating TikTok, Instagram and Facebook accounts that will be exclusively used for my book endeavors. This email address is from WordPress — the same company that hosts this blog. There’s a cost, but it’s minimal — $3 per month.

And lastly, the mailing list. I learned that having a newsletter / mailing list is one of the best things I can do as a newly-published author. Mailing lists typically have higher conversion rates than social media. They also give me direct access to reviewers and allow me to build industry credibility. Sounds good. The issue is getting people to actually sign up. My plan for that is what’s known as a Reader Magnet.

A Reader Magnet usually takes the form of a freebee available to the person as soon as they sign up — a deleted scene / chapter or maybe a new short story derived from my up-and-coming book that is for their eyes only. So that’s what I’m working on now. I’m writing a ‘short’ story of 10k to 20k words that has to do with a certain red-headed girl from Dead on Paper. This is my biggest focus at the moment. Until the short story is done and polished, there’s not much else to put energy into.

My goal is to finish it sometime in October. Then I can start lining things up. I might not post until I move onto the next step.

That’s it! If you managed to read this entire post — nicely done. You have my thanks. I hope it was interesting or at least helpful. As always, any comments, tips and questions are always welcome and appreciated.