Jennifer Lancaster

October 15, 2020

How to Publish a Book in Australia

Even though this is meant to be light relief, hopefully you’ll also learn a lot about how to publish a book in Australia, without losing your shirt. First step, ignore all ads that start following you around the internet. Those are likely to be vanity press/support companies who want your dollars. Next, write a list of simple actions you will take to get this book published. Here’s a fun look at the usual book publishing steps for Australians. 1. Decide on your publish path. Choose whether you want to pitch for your life to Literary Agents (or do Friday Pitches by email to big publishers)… or Self-Publish and pay for everything. It’s tougher to get wide bookstore distribution as your own publisher. 2. Determine your costs, if going indie. Expect to pay around $3,000 to $8,000 for two rounds of…

June 13, 2023

Self-Publishing

Why use IngramSpark Print on Demand?

If you’re a self-publisher, searching for a Print on Demand platform that helps your book get a wide reach (e.g. to libraries in Australia), then IngramSpark Print on Demand (POD) could be of interest. IngramSpark is a self-publishing option offered by Lightning Source, a massive book printer. They will make your titles available through Ingram Book Group, a leader in print and electronic wholesale distribution. They serve over 39,000 retailers, libraries, schools, e-commerce companies and other partners — including Amazon, Wheelers, and book wholesalers. I believe IngramSpark is suited to business-minded self-publishers, as an ABN is needed. The setup fee is now waived, and instead, authors pay a 1% distribution fee of the final retail sale price. It’s easy to make a direct order through IngramSpark, once set up with your ABN and ISBN. The printing for AU orders is…

November 5, 2020

Book Writing

Self-Help Writing Prompts

Fiction writers have a whole host of writing prompt blogs and crazy Reddit posts, but people writing their first self-help book can find few resources to be a catalyst for their stories. Rather than simple imagination, for the self-development writer, it’s more memories that we want to access… or finding others’ quotes and stories to back up what we’re saying. Examples of Writing Prompts Look at some of my writing ideas from past books: An idea about happiness and our outlook came one day when I observed the primary school kids leaving school, running, skipping, gleeful to be free… when my daughter talks about learning music, her face lights up. Why don’t adults run, skip and smile when they come out of their workplace? (from Create Your New Life of Abundance) Does something irk you? In How to Start a…

March 27, 2020

Book Writing

Writing a Book in Australia, in a Crisis

Like many who rely on the wonderful authors of this world, I need optimistic books right now! So this post will talk about what you can write a book about during this Coronavirus crisis, that also won’t date too much. If you like writing non-fiction, the topics I am brainstorming here for 2020 are: Career transitions. What a great time to write about skilling up for a new career or home-based business, and as a bonus, discussing the technologies many of us need in modern business life. I wrote How to Start a Freelance Business. It is simple information, but just what someone starting up needs to consider, which they may not have done. Next wave of Lifestyle Books: fresh ideas. We’ve had all the turmeric latte/cacao cookbook ideas we can handle and a plethora of health or yoga books;…

April 7, 2020

Book Writing, Updates

Sharing Your Creative Side

Part of the Creative Ways with Money philosophy is knowing your own strengths, skills and resources and then finding creative new ways to share them with others. In the book, we do this through finding our life’s purpose (our Ikigai), knowing what’s real and what’s not, and applying our strengths to business or online income streams. It seems everything is changing at the moment and many of us can’t figure out what to do with our time. Remember that we don’t just create in a vacuum. We must look at what is real right now and set an intention for ourselves. Here is one personal development author’s take on it: “Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request, and everything your heart truly desires must come to…

November 29, 2021

Publicity, Selling eBooks and Media

Should I Advertise My Book?

Should I advertise my book? is a common question, especially with the number of book launches today. Moreover, should I use Amazon Ads? In AuthorU, a LinkedIn group, I posed this question to expert in book publicity, Sandra Beckwith. Here’s what she replied to whether a newbie should use Amazon Ads: “Nobody — regardless of whether it’s their 1st or 10th book — should be buying ads until they have a lot of positive reader reviews. If it’s the former (authors doing it themselves), authors can manage their own advertising, but should learn how it works first. There are a lot of courses available that will help with that. Just as authors shouldn’t self-publish until they spend time learning how to do that, they shouldn’t spend on ads until they truly know what they’re doing. And…the books that will do…