Tag: T&R Independent Books

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Friday News : A New Business Website

Welcome to Friday News. Every Friday I share news with you; primarily about writing and sometimes about life in general. This week it is about:A New Business Website.

Today is a big day for T & R Independent Books. For years (since 2014) our website has been attached to Godaddy hosting. It has been a good relationship, but the time for change has come.

Why the Change?

Good question, considering my statement above. There are several reasons why I made the change, but first let me tell you what didn’t occur.

It Wasn’t Godaddy’s fault!

Like I said it has been a good relationship. However, they recently made a change in their hosting software. Previously they’d made a change and I’ve been learning to make maximum use of the new formats.

It is obviously powerful, but it is requiring more learning time than I currently have available due to family health issues and more. Now they’ve made another change which may or may not involve additional learning. And they did increase the cost slightly.

I Want a Tighter Fit.

Currently I am active on the website, with my blog (R Frederick Riddle Blog), Facebook, and other social media. While Godaddy’s websites do allow for a blog, my blog is already on WordPress. And it is doing fine.

Instead of having a potential viewer who first lands on the website have to go to my blog tab, click on that and be linked to my blog, the blog will now be a click away from the website. That’s a plus for my readers. In other words, it is a tighter fit!

A Slight Discomfort.

While I’m high on Godaddy and recommend it to everyone, I did have some discomfort with the appearance of my website. As I was still in the learning stage of their system, I may not have used all the tools available properly. In any case, I just wasn’t comfortable with the look and feel of the site.

The Timing Was Right.

As the person responsible for the IT Management and the Company Finances I always look for ways of cutting costs. By making the switch from Godaddy hosting to WordPress hosting I saved money. That is always a big plus!

But the timing was also right because of our recent addition of TR Writing Services. With the switch I have been able to create a more in-depth view of this business enabling viewers to get a better view of it. Since we are upfront in our literature about pricing I wanted potential customers to see what we do and the cost of what we offer!

I don’t know about you, but I hate to visit a website or landing page and have to scroll to the last page to find out the cost. My time is too valuable to read the entire pitch only to discover I don’t like the price. We are upfront.

I’ve also been to websites that tell you a great deal about their products and services but require you to contact them to discover the price. I’m sure they believe that every customer is unique, but there are better ways to present your work than requiring you to contact them. Our Writing Service presents a Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum plan. And I believe our costs are lower than the norm. We are proud of that and want you to know.

It is possible I could have accomplished that using Godaddy, but I accomplished that goal within a single day using the WordPress site.

How Do We Access It?

If you are currently on the blog (since you’re reading this that is probably correct), then you’ll notice a “MENU” on the upper right corner of the header. Click on there and the menu will open revealing the TR Independent Books menu. Click on whatever menu item you want.

That’s it! Simple, right?

If you are elsewhere and want to go directly to TR Independent Books, there are two ways you can go. The first is to go to the old site (tr-indbkstore.com) and be redirected to the new site. The second is simply go to https://rfrederickriddleblog.com/tr-independent-books/.

Will this change affect the costs of your service?

No. Your costs remain the same. As noted above we keep our pricing low. Our most expensive service costs less than $900 (see TR Writing Service for You). That is the Platinum which includes the e-book service.

What do I do if interested in your service?

You follow directions below:

For information on TR Writing Services contact us at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. We have a Free booklet telling you about our services. And we are upfront on our prices (all are low).

VISIT MY AUTHOR’S PAGE TODAY: amazon.com/author/rfrederickriddle.

ARE YOU A BOOK REVIEWER? I am always looking for book reviews. Whether it is Perished The World That Was (Book One), World of Noah and the Ark (Book Two), World of Shem (Book Three), World of Abraham (Book Four) or Death Ship (Book One), Pauline A New Home (Book Two), Task Force Hunter (Book Three), Black Death (Book Four), or Rise of I.C.E.S. (Book Five), I value your reviews.

If you would like to review any of these books contact me at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com with the subject line indicating that desire. An example of an appropriate subject line would be: ‘Seek to review [book Title].’ In the email make sure to indicate your email address, your name, and the choice of copy (PDF or Epub).

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R Frederick Riddle is the Editor of TR Writing Services providing help to struggling and/or new authors to write and publish their books. In addition, he is the author of several books and is best known for Christian Historical and Speculative Fiction. For more information on him or his books visit his Amazon Authors Page. He is also co-founder and Vice President of T&R Independent Books where his books are featured. To reply to any blog you have the option of commenting on a blog and/or sending an email to marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. You may also be interested in his Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld.

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Indie Publishing

Monday through Friday I deal with different subjects in this blog. I also post my blog to my Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld. Today I am writing about Indie Publishing.
Back in 2014 when my wife and I decided to establish T&R Independent Publishing we didn’t know what to expect. What we did know was that I was bringing eleven years of writing experience and she was bringing not only business experience but an MBA to the business. And enthusiasm.
But Why Did We Choose to Become an Indie Publisher?
To be honest we were unhappy with the results of so called Self Publishing. Whatever sales were being made didn’t translate well in the form of royalties. But of greater importance was the lack of control. We’re not control freaks, but when you pour your heart and talent into a project you want to have control of how it is published and marketed. It was with that in mind that we started our new business.
Let’s take a closer look.
Why form our own publishing company?
Up to that time I had been publishing using what is commonly called self publishing companies to publish my books. But as I studied these companies I discovered:

  • They control the content of the book
  • They control the cover of the book
  • They determine the royalties
  • I still had to do most of the marketing

In other words, while we had more freedom and control than we’d have with a traditional publisher we still didn’t really have control of anything that really mattered. By going independent and truly publishing by ourselves, we would:

  • Have control over the content of the book from cover to cover
  • Have control over the cover of the book, including what photos we can use
  • Determine the royalties (You have choices with the KDP platform)
  • Still do the marketing

Now don’t get me wrong. We don’t consider ourselves masters of the publishing universe. Rather we believe that if the author is going to invest his/herself into writing a book, any book, then they deserve to benefit from it.
Example
With traditional and self publishing companies the average author’s royalties are scaled. It varies from publisher to publisher but in general it might go like this: 8% of retail for the first 2,500; 15% for the next 5,000; 25% thereafter. Now the numbers just used may not be accurate today, but the concept is true.
But by doing my own publishing using the KDP platform I can receive 35% or 70% right from the start depending on choices we make! That is a huge difference.
What about the content?
With traditional publishers you generally have to first go through an agent who then tries to find a publisher. The agent has certain criteria which may involve you changing the content of your book. But just finding an agent can be long and frustrating. Then the agent gets to tell you whether the book is good enough for publishing based on their expertise.
Even self publishers exert control. For example, say you are writing a book and you quote from the King James Version Bible. It is possible, if you use their editing service, they will substitute a different version whether you agree or not. They may also reject passages they don’t like. In other words, just because you are pleased with your results they might not be and can act accordingly.
Another thing involved is the ability to correct. No matter how or to what extent you have had your book previewed and edited, there is always the chance of errors. Moreover the publisher may have printing errors. I ran into this with my books. I was sent a ‘Proof’ copy and given about three days to review, find errors, make corrections, and return (electronically, of course). Three days may sound like a lot when using the internet but if the publisher made errors, which in this case they did, the finding and correcting  could be extensive, which it was. As a result I was only able to make a limited number of corrections and then it was published. And once published I could not make any corrections without going through the submission process again including paying money!
But by publishing the book myself I am able to take my time and do a more thorough job of previewing and editing. And, if there are still errors in the published version, I can correct the errors and republished at no cost to myself! Since the forming of T&R Independent Books we have reviewed, unpublished, and republished our books after editing.
And now with the merger of CreateSpace into KDP we have even greater simplicity. We haven’t republished anything yet since the merger, but it is my understanding that we can, if we choose, leave the existing book version published while we make corrections and then republish! That is HUGE!
What about the Cover?
In previous blogs  I wrote about CreateSpace’s Cover Creator and the Photo Gallery. We have recently published books by me using KDP’s Cover Creator and Photo Gallery. I liked CreateSpace’s gallery, I like KDP’s more!
I won’t go into all the details again other than to say we can use one of their free pictures or we can upload a picture of our own. We don’t have to deal with the publisher to get permission like we did with my previous self published books with a publisher. Even though we had a certificate proving we owned the rights, they rejected the photo and the certificate. But as the publisher we not only can but did use it.
And one last thing: Writing a book can be and is stressful; so is marketing. Having greater control over the publishing removes a lot of stress; and having greater control over price and royalties is far more rewarding.
Have you considered publishing your book yourself?
More and more authors are discovering the value of a DIY (Doing It Yourself) approach commonly called Indie Publishing. Yes it requires more work on your part, but it’s worth it in many ways.
ARE YOU A BOOK REVIEWER? I am always looking for book reviews. Whether it is Perished The World That Was (Book One), World of Noah and the Ark (Book Two), World of Shem (Book Three), World of Abraham (Book Four) or Death Ship (Book One), Pauline A New Home (Book Two), or Task Force Hunter (Book Three), I value your reviews.
If you would like to review any of these books contact me at marketing@tr-indbkstore.com with the subject line indicating that desire. An example of an appropriate subject line would be: ‘Seek to review [book Title].’ In the email make sure to indicate your email address, your name, and the choice of copy (PDF or ePub).

– – – – – – –

R Frederick Riddle is the author of several books and is best known for Christian Historical Fiction. For more information on him or his books visit his Amazon Authors Page. He is also co-founder and Vice President of T&R Independent Books where his books are featured. To reply to any blog you have the option of commenting on a blog and/or sending an email to marketing@tr-indbkstore.com. You may also be interested in his Facebook page at RFrederickRiddlesWorld.