Published:

02/22/2011 11:56am

3 Sneaky Little Things Every Author Should Know About That You Probably Don’t

By Randy Peyser

As a publishing pro, I have learned a lot of information that most authors don’t know about but should. Here are three sneaky little things to file away in the back of your mind as you pursue your publishing path…

Sneaky Thing #1: Who owns your ISBN? If a POD company or a traditional publisher publishes your book, they own the ISBN. Whenever you change companies (for example, you sell your self-published book to a traditional publisher), the ISBN will change to reflect your new publisher’s ISBN for your book. The sneaky thing you need to know: whenever you change ISBNs, you LOSE your current Amazon ranking.

Sneaky Thing #2: Repurpose your material. You can make more money with an Info. Product than you can with just your book alone – so do both! Sneaky tip: In addition to publishing your book, spin some segment of your information into a Special Report or Info Product and sell it online as an eBook, or as a DVD or CD.

Sneaky Thing #3: Many graphic designers in California (and perhaps in other places, but predominantly in California) are downright sneaky in claiming ownership of the designs they create for book covers. That means if you self-publish your book and want to use your cover image or a portion of it for any other purpose, you will be stuck paying licensing fees for each additional use to that graphic designer. To avoid this scenario, make sure the designer you intend to hire puts in writing that they are performing a “work for hire,” and that you own whatever they are creating for you.


Randy Peyser is the creator of the Write-a-Book Program and the owner of Author One Stop, a national publishing consulting firm. She and her award winning staff edit books, ghostwrite, help people find literary agents and publishers or self-publish. Randy is the author of The Power of Miracle Thinking and Crappy to Happy. She is featured in Confessions of Shameless Self-Promoters, Book Marketing from A-Z, Dojo Wisdom for Writers, Visionary Women Inspiring the World, and other books. Randy specializes in writing Internet press releases and gets up to 500,000 impressions per press release that she writes and distributes online. http://www.AuthorOneStop.com.
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