Authorpreneur Magazine - Issue 2

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AUTHORITY ALICIA FREILE talks about E-READER DIGEST 4 I thought it would be a great opportunity to ‘get my name out there’ as an expert on the topic In 2012, I did something I never planned to do... I announced the launch of my first book, E-Reader Digest. Why was this so unexpected? Because I’m not a writer by trade... Come to think of it, I wasn’t even a very good student in school. What I am is a graphic designer who works closely with the book publishing industry, but never before considered a foray into the editorial side of the field. Certainly, I had never imagined I’d be an authority author on a book! But I’m getting ahead of myself... I’ll backtrack a little, and tell you a bit about me and how I ended up writing my book. I have been working in the book publishing industry for 15 years and I absolutely love it. Starting my career in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I worked as an in-house book designer for nine years before moving to Australia to pursue a master’s degree in Design Management. My plan was to get my degree and then return to America to continue working in publishing, hopefully at a higher level than before. Funny how plans get derailed, isn’t it? During my studies, I met my Australian husband-to-be and quickly realized that I needed to find a way to stay and work in Australia. It was easier said than done. Because sponsored business visas for graphic designers were like gold dust, I had to consider other options... including the notion of starting my own graphic design business. And this is what I ended up doing. In the past, I wondered why so many immigrants are entrepreneurs. And now I know! As an immigrant, it can be extremely difficult to break into an industry when your entire professional network (and reputation) is based on the other side of the world. Even if you have a wealth of experience, if people don’t know you then you may as well be invisible to them. In 2008, I launched Tango Media, a boutique graphic design company focusing on book design, layout and typesetting. I had a few American clients that I knew through my publishing career in the States, plus a couple of Australian clients that I managed to connect with since arriving down under. But I needed to grow my Australian client base and expand the business in order for it to be sustainable. AuthorpreneurMagazine March 2013 www.authorpreneurmagazine.com
Around this time, e-books started to enter my radar. I knew about Amazon’s Kindle, and e-books in general, from friends and colleagues in the United States. But Australia was a few years behind in this technology; only the faintest murmurs about e-books were heard down under. It struck me as an excellent opportunity to get into this area early on, so I learned how to design, format and distribute e-books for my American and Australian clients. It was a great move because digital publishing in Australia (and everywhere) has grown steadily, and I was lucky enough to have a head start. A year ago, one of my digital publishing clients, Michael Wilkinson (Wilkinson Publishing), saw a gap in the market for printed resources geared to consumers wanting to learn about e-books and e-readers. This type of content was readily available online, but only the tech-savvy would know where to find it. Michael decided he wanted to publish a printed non-techie’s guide to e-books and e-readers, that would be written in easy-tounderstand language. He asked me if I wanted to author the book. I was surprised by his offer... I was no techie. I hated learning to use the computer during my undergraduate days and learning new software never came easily to me. I told Michael all of this and he replied by saying “That’s exactly why I want you to write it. You’ll explain e-books and e-readers to people who struggle with technology in a way that is clear and easy to understand”. I quickly agreed to write the guide. Aside from the fact that I’m passionate about the subject of digital reading, I also thought it would be a great opportunity to ‘get my name out there’ as an expert on the topic… especially in Australia where I’m still building my professional reputation and network. Authoring E-Reader Digest would give me the foundation upon which I could continue to build my career. It would allow me to gain recognition in my industry and online. How could I say no? Writing E-Reader Digest was hard work... way tougher than any book design project I had undertaken. And I was doing it on top of my normal workload! The writing took more time than I anticipated, involved a lot more research, and was quite frustrating at times. But Michael Wilkinson, the publisher, was www.authorpreneurmagazine.com encouraging and patient with my questions. His confidence in the book made me feel confident about it too, and pretty soon I had written the entire draft manuscript and submitted it to the editor. After the editor’s review, the manuscript came back to me so that I could design and lay out the book. (That’s right, I designed my own book!) I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a smart idea or the biggest mistake I ever made... It turned out to be a good move, as we saved a lot of time by keeping the design with me instead of an external designer. Since E-Reader Digest covered the latest technology in digital reading, we couldn’t afford to spend much time on the editorial process. The technology continues to change all the time and wasn’t going to stop because my book was on press. It needed to go to press fast! E-Reader Digest was published in November 2012 and is also available online and in stores in Australia, the US, the UK, and various other countries. It is early days for the book, of course, but I’ve noticed an uptick in Tango Media’s website traffic since the book came out. And I’ve been able to take advantage of being a published author by serving as an ‘expert’ for journalists to ask questions about e-books and e-readers. Only time will tell what else E-Reader Digest will bring my way... One area worth mentioning here is promotion. Many authority authors, myself included, need to handle the book promotion and publicity themselves. At times, this felt more challenging than actually writing the book because I quickly needed to learn everything I could about how to promote a book. I learned how to correctly write my own press release, how to navigate the world of newspapers, TV and magazines, and how to make the most of online and social media promotion. None of it was easy, but the lessons learned in this area were all extremely valuable and I can apply them to my business. As for publishing a book to set one’s self up as an authority, I realize I was lucky that an established publisher approached me to write a book AND paid me to do it. Often, authors who wish to write a book to promote themselves as an expert must foot the bill themselves... either by self-publishing or working with a vanity press. But I think the benefits are the same regardless of the path you take: Your March 2013 AuthorpreneurMagazine 5
Page 1 and 2: FROM COACH TO AUTHOR Andrew R Mille
Page 3: CONTENTS 04 E-READER DIGEST Alicia
Page 7 and 8: Once I had my research gathered, th
Page 9 and 10: 1. As an authorpreneur you’re mor
Page 11 and 12: Media Cents and Sensibility by Chri
Page 13 and 14: Marianne Cantwell I created a book
Page 15 and 16: I used an online program called Ani
Page 17 and 18: Author Websites by Jeannie Barker E
Page 19 and 20: Tip 3 You, or your PA/VA, should be
Page 21 and 22: www.authorpreneurmagazine.com 12-14
Page 23 and 24: Are You Tracking Your Mentions? Are

Authorpreneur Magazine - Issue 2

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