₦airaland Forum

4 Reasons Why Digital Publishing Is A New Revenue Opportunity For Agencies

There’s a rumor going around that digital publishing is killing the agency model. Just google “agency is dead” and you’ll see what I mean.

Brad Jakeman, the president of PepsiCo says, “The agency model is not going to bend — it’s going to break.” And he’s just one of the pessimists asserting that today’s digital landscape has made agencies outdated and obsolete.

The growth of digital marketing and communications has shaken things up. Offline marketing spend is way down. Large-scale investing into agencies for TV campaigns is no longer commonplace.

Traditional print agencies that don’t adapt with the times and begin to offer digital services like content marketing and search engine optimization will certainly face challenges.
Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/4-reasons-why-digital-publishing-is-a-new-revenue-opportunity-for-agencies/

6 Tips for Marketing Children’s Books

Every book genre is unique, not just in content, but also when it comes to book’s publicity and promotion. Children’s books, in particular, require a different set of tactics than other books when it comes to book promotion. Children’s books have a very different target market, because children can’t buy books … but parents, teachers and others can and do buy books for them. So to get to your end-user, you need to get in front of the people in the middle!

Here are some tips and book publishing marketing strategies to help you along the way:

1. Begin locally.

For children’s book marketing – whether print or ebook marketing services – it’s almost always best to start locally. Reach out to bookstores, both chain and independent, and inquire about opportunities for events and signings. Most stores have a “local author” section, so ask about that as well, and offer autographed copies – always a nice touch.


Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/6-tips-for-marketing-childrens-books/

How to Choose a Bestselling Book Title for Fiction or Nonfiction

Choosing the title of your book is probably the most important decision you will make when it comes to selling more books. Your book title alone will be responsible for a large percentage of your sales—so choose your book title wisely!

Bestselling authors and publishers have known for hundreds of years that the title of the book will do more to increase sales than any other single decision you make about your book.

How to Choose a Great Book Title
Whether you’re a non-fiction writer or a novelist or anything in between, a good book title is as necessary as a good newspaper headline. Without a good title, no one is going to open the book in the first place (or click on the link for ebooks)!

For example, would you rather read “Think and Grow Rich” or “Contemplate and Increase Your Wealth Gradually Over Time as You Become a More Successful Person?”

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/how-to-choose-a-bestselling-book-title-for-fiction-or-nonfiction/

Steps to Customizing your Facebook Author Page

Facebook is more than a platform to post pictures and rant about how unfair life has been to you. It can also serve as a very powerful promotional and engagement tool, especially for writers. This tool can be optimized by setting up an Author’s page and this can be done in 3 easy steps.

Step 1:
We are going to assume you have not been living under a rock and you actually have a profile on Facebook. Now, click the upside-down triangle at the top right side of your page, then click on “Create Page.” There are many options on the kind of page you want but you can use either “Artist” or “Public Figure.” Then select the “Author” option and then go through some series of steps to complete your page. The first is your “Author Name,” and this is really important. You will need to use the exact same name you have on your books in order to avoid confusion. You might be tempted to use a nickname like Lucy Swaggalicous, but resist such temptation.

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/steps-to-customizing-your-facebook-author-page/

Skills Needed for Writers and Editors

Written language skills are an integral part of many positions in almost every industry. Even staff positions and freelance opportunities that center around writing or editing skills occur in multiple fields that don’t overlap. For example, just because you can create advertising copy or web content does not mean you can be a technical writer or a journalist—and vice versa.

Yet there are certain core skills that all writers and editors share, plus there are other skills that are important features of many forms of professional writing.

Applying for Work as a Writer or Editor
Besides a traditional resume, you will likely have to provide a portfolio of successfully completed projects and a collection of writing samples.

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/skills-needed-for-writers-and-editors/

6 Tips for Choosing the Right Editor for your Book

Since the advent of self-publishing, there has been a huge number of editors offering their services with a varied range of experience, price, attention to detail, and style. Finding and then choosing one isn’t always easy, and can be very daunting the first time.

1. Decide what sort of editing help you need
All editing is not created equal. Editing types range all the way from content/developmental edits, which will give you a general idea of where your story is strong and where it is weak. I usually start with this kind of editing. On the other end of the scale, is proofreading, which only picks up obvious spelling and grammar mistakes. In between, you can get various forms of line and copyediting, and I’m not completely sure of the difference! Most editors will tell you what services they offer, and the different prices they charge for each service. Some will offer a mix of styles.


Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/6-tips-for-choosing-the-right-editor-for-your-book/

10 Things to Consider When Choosing a Publisher

Choosing the right publisher is vital to the process of getting published, and with such a wide variety of markets and publishing options available, it’s critical that authors research those options. To help shed some light on the process of finding a publisher, I’ve put together a list of top tips from my 14 years of experience.

Be aware of the different choices you have
The publishing industry is evolving and as well as traditional publishing there are a variety of routes for an author and options for them to invest in their own work, either through self-publishing or cooperative publishing.

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/10-things-to-consider-when-choosing-a-publisher/

Digital Publishing Formats: Advantages and Disadvantages

Before creating a publication it’s essential to research and understand the various output formats and tools available. There are many options out there and you should take time to consider which publishing format best fits your needs. Prior to creating a publication, there are many things to consider such as what platform your publication will be viewed on, what will be the focus of the content, the design and advertising strategies. Once you have come to a decision, you can then determine which tools are best for your publication.

Today’s generation of readers are more comfortable with digital formats and publishers are continuously searching for the right electronic content delivery to address these needs. Choosing the correct format is key. Each publishing format has its own characteristics and distinguishing features aimed at enhancing the reader’s experience.

In this blog, we’ll focus on two key publishing formats, Digital Magazines, and EPUBs, concentrating on the advantages and disadvantages of each. We’ll also look briefly at other available publishing formats that are popular amongst today’s audience.

Read more at;https://www.issacharprojects.com/digital-publishing-formats-advantages-and-disadvantages/

3 Ways to Get Funding to Publish Your Book

Publishing a book takes a lot of hard work and much more rejection for the average writer. It would of course be easier if you had the funds available to be able to publish your book. Unfortunately, there is no secret to finding this kind of funding, but there are ways to get it done. It might not be as simple and quick as you thought.

Everyone that takes this route has had to find a loophole to try and find this kind of funding. What might work for one writer might not work for the next, so you have to explore all the options available to you. If you are truly passionate about your book, you already won half of the battle. Now it’s just a matter of finding the method that works for you. With that being said, here are some of the most effective ways to do so.

1. Crowdfunding
It is never easy to get money out of strangers, but if you have a good concept and life story, you would be able to sell it to them. People do this for various reasons, but I have seen many writers successfully raise enough money to publish their books.

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/3-ways-to-get-funding-to-publish-your-book/

How to Make Marketing your Fiction a Reality


The book market is a crowded one and authors need to keep looking for creative ways to make their books stand out. There are steps that can be taken for you so your fiction can be noticed by a potential reader who probably has other fictional works begging for his attention. Here are three of them:

Create and Enhance your Author Website:
Your author website should give readers an opportunity to experience your personality and story settings. Your website should tell your reader all they need to know about you, it should give them an experience that will stick and make them long for your work. Use quality artwork and images to give glimpses of your story that will make the reader salivate even more. Also, avoid using bland languages and instead use fascinating text to tell readers about you from a dramatic point of view. Note that if your website is boring, they will assume your book is boring as well. Also, offer free content like unpublished short stories, video trailers, contests and tour dates. Fans love free stuff!


Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/how-to-make-marketing-your-fiction-a-reality/

Reasons Your Book Gets Rejected by Publishers


First, you should know that manuscripts, not the writer gets rejected – especially if you are a relatively unknown writer. That was why JK Rowling’s manuscript for Harry Potter got rejected 12 times!!! But we can bet that right now, most publishers would accept virtually anything from her. This is because, first, your work is what pushes you until you get really popular and then your name carries you.

But if you are relatively unknown, then your work is bound to go through intense scrutiny. If the publisher believes it is not up to standard, it gets rejected. The reasons for rejection start with the basics, i.e. the manuscript sucks. Author can’t format/spell/doesn’t know grammar or punctuation. S/he is clueless about narrative, characterization, plotting, pacing, and can’t write dialogue. You should note that most Editors do not have the time to transform your work into publishable material (except us! We have all the time in the world) so they would most likely throw your work in the trash.
Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/reasons-your-book-gets-rejected-by-publishers/

5 Steps to Sell and Market Your Books

1. Find your Community
Even if you are Wole Soyinka, not everybody will read your book; so get over it. Some people may throw your book in a trash, but there will be others who will absolutely adore it and place it on their front shelf. You need to find these people and build your market around them. If you are writing about career development, then you might need to target young school leavers. If your book is a futuristic science fiction, then you should know your market isn’t with the elderly.

2. Connect with the activities of your community:
The next thing is to figure out the activities of your community. Are they students who love to club? Do they have a book club or do they go to the movies? Are they sports people who gather at bet shops? The idea is to meet them at the place of their activities to connect with them.
Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/5-steps-to-sell-and-market-your-books/

9 Things You Need to Know About the Book Editing Process

The book editing process is highly personal and it’s important to know what you’re getting into before you begin. Here are a few frequently asked questions about the book editing process to help authors better understand what to expect.

1. What’s the First Step to the Editing Process?
After self-editing, the first step of the editing process is an editorial review. The goal of this review is to determine the level of editing a manuscript needs before it’s ready to be published. There are several different types of edits and some manuscripts will need them all, but some won’t, so this first step will help determine which edits would be most useful for your manuscript.
Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/9-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-book-editing-process-2/

4 Ways to Successfully Self-Edit Your Manuscript

You’ve finished the first draft of your nonfiction book or an article for a publication. It’s time to hand your manuscript over to an editor, right? Wrong.

Recently, I met a prospective author who was working on her first book. “So,” she asked, “an editor like you can help me fix up my first draft, right?”

On the one hand, she’s right: a part of my job is, indeed, working with authors to help improve their books. On the other hand, this author’s question reveals a common misconception about the editor-author relationship—that the writer finishes their writing and then hands the work over to an editor to make it into something publishable.

Editors provide sound advice and love to work with authors but can help more if the writers take some necessary steps to revise their work before approaching an editor. Simply said, you must self-edit your work first.
Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/4-ways-to-successfully-self-edit-your-manuscript/

Children’s Book Publishing Tips

If you’ve always dreamed of publishing a children’s book and you want to make that dream a reality, you must make sure that your goal is realistic. Writing books for children can be exciting, but it takes a thick skin, an ability to handle rejection, and a commitment to revise and rewrite. The best children’s book authors are soft-hearted and thick-skinned all at the same time.

Once a publisher bites on your children’s book idea, you’ll want that feeling again. This is why most authors who publish their first children’s book will go on to publish more. Publishing your first book can be a challenge. If you want to learn from others who’ve experienced everything from rejection to publishing offers, here are 5 valuable tips:

1. Read As Many Children’s Books As You Can

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/childrens-book-publishing-tips/

How to Get Published in a Magazine

Too many writers begin their publishing journey the wrong way. They try to start big. They want a book contract, a speaking tour, and all-around international fame and notoriety.

But that’s not how this thing works. You have to start small. This is a blessing in disguise, actually, as you are probably not that good when you are just beginning. You need time to practice.

The best way to do that? Write for magazines.

Over the years, I’ve written for a lot of different magazines and websites, some of which paid really well and some that didn’t. Regardless, I’m grateful. It’s how I got my start. And it’s made me the writer I am today.

Why write for magazines?
Writing for magazines is a great way to learn a lot about how publishing works, what it’s like to have your content edited, and how to hone your craft.

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/how-to-get-published-in-a-magazine/

Reasons Your Book Cover is the most Important Part of your Book

With the spread of the internet, publishing is getting easier and easier by the day. This means there is a huge supply of books especially on online publishing platforms and if you are a relatively unpopular writer, your book cover (and title) is extremely important. Here are some reasons why:

A Book is Judged by the Cover
If you are not George RR Martin or Malcom Gladwell, then yes! Your book will probably be judged by the cover. It is the first impression your readers have about your book and it should be catchy enough to draw their attention. It should be like a beautiful girl’s skirt; revealing enough to expose some skin but not too revealing so it doesn’t expose the important part.

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/reasons-your-book-cover-is-the-most-important-part-of-your-book/

Ten book marketing tips to help increase book sales
Self-publishing is not a new phenomenon anymore as it has now become an integral part of the publishing landscape.

However, there is one component that remains a stumbling block – getting your book to sell.

Book marketing is tough, hard work, time-consuming and can even be dispiriting. If that’s not enough, it can also be expensive.

We all hear about the ones who ‘got lucky’ such as Amanda Hocking and E L James, but these are rarities. However in saying that, they didn’t achieve success without a lot of hard work either.

Self-published authors have no choice but to face up to the onerous task of promoting themselves.

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/book-marketing-tips-for-self-published-authors/

“I’m not a brand, I’m an author!” True, but the purpose of branding is the same whether you’re selling books or bran flakes: to let customers know what they’re going to get before they buy.


Almost every author I’ve met, whether they write literary fiction for a small press or category romances for Harlequin, has considered themselves an artist of some sort, and no one wants to equate selling their art to selling Kellogg’s cereal or Coca-Cola. They don’t view their books as commercial products. But the purpose of branding is the same whether you’re selling books or bran flakes: to let customers know what they’re going to get before they buy.

When you pick up a Coke, you know exactly what the soda is going to taste like. You know that the Lexus will have more luxury features than the Hyundai. When you pick up the latest Nora Roberts novel at the grocery store or a James Patterson book at the airport, you know what types of stories are within those pages. Known brands are comfortable, familiar, and come with limited risk.

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/your-author-brand-what-it-is-and-why-you-need-one/

How to Improve your Creativity

1. Learn through collaboration:
Curiosity might kill the cat, but will definitely not kill you. While it might be argued that creativity is sometimes an unpredictable flash of genius, it can also be more creative and innovative systematically. Bill Gates programmed for more than ten years under the guidance of senior programmers before he created Microsoft. Hang around those you know are creative in their craft and learn. When you have enough inputs, ideas will flow as well.

2. Do something you love:
Love and creativity are intertwined. Einstein was sometimes so engrossed in his work he forgot to eat, simply because he loved what he was doing. This made him creative in his field.


Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/how-to-improve-your-creativity/

Six (Plus One) Dos and Don’ts of Writing A Publishable Academic Article

Today, we shall take you through dos and don’ts of writing an academic article that is worthy of getting published in any journal in the world. And these are just easy steps to implement.

1. Ask Yourself Why You Are Doing This.
Imagine a final year student in the university who has done a course he doesn’t like for four years and is now compelled to write that infamous final year “long essay” project on a topic he or she probably was just hearing for the first time. Chances are, this student would look for a short cut just so he/she could get it over with probably by paying someone else to do it for him/her. The reason this student would find that shorter route is simply because he has not found an answer to “why am I doing this?” Same thing applies if you want to write a scholarly article. It is a difficult frustrating journey with lots of pitfalls and if you do not have a solid reason to keep going, you will fall by the way side or find a shorter route.
Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/six-plus-one-dos-and-donts-writing-academic-article/

8 Reasons Your Book Isn’t Selling


With Amazon, and other similar platforms, self-publishing is becoming more and more popular. But there is the challenge of not making enough sales, which is one of the advantages of using a recognized publishing company (like us). Here are 8 reasons why your self-published book might not be as sought after as you anticipated.

Competition: Self-publishing has become so much easier and there lies the problem. The publishing world is a crowded place with books from centuries ago to the latest eBook that was published a few minutes ago. These are your competitors and there are millions of them. But you can improve your chances of breaking into the market with the right content and marketing.

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/8-reasons-your-book-isnt-selling/

8 Tested Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block


Ah, the old enemy. Writer’s block can happen to anybody no matter how good a writer you are. From writers like Malcolm Gladwell to writers like the author of “Nkechi the bush girl.” Not just authors but musicians, speech writers or anyone who deals with content. So, what do you do when you feel like you don’t have a creative bone in your body and everything you pen down finds a home in your trash bin?

Frist, Writer’s block can be caused by timing. Sometimes your ideas need a little more time to get fleshed out before they are penned down.

It can also be caused by Fear. Some writers fail before they even fail. They are so scared of penning down their ideas and showing the world to critic.

The third reason is perfectionism. Many people want their ideas to be perfect in their head before penning it down and when this doesn’t happen, they fail to write. Truth is, perfection comes during the process of writing and not before.
Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/8-tested-ways-to-overcome-writers-block/

7 Book Publishing Secrets that Every Writer Needs to Know

Paris Hilton has one. Rob Lowe has one too. Even Sharon Osbourne’s got one.

Get your mind out of the gutter people — I’m talking about books.

Even with all their money, fame and extreme overexposure, these people (or, their people) went to the effort to become published authors. Why?

These celebrities already have more money than they know what to do with and dead tree book publishing is supposed to be dead.

So why do these celebrities bother to write (or hire a ghostwriter to write) a book?

I can’t answer for Paris, but Seth Godin has stated that the reason to write a book versus a blog post, ebook, or PDF is to “make change happen.”


Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/7-book-publishing-secrets-that-every-writer-needs-to-know/

Writing fiction is not as difficult as it might seem, as long as you follow these eight simple rules:

1.Think Outside the Box
It is fiction after all. Take yourself through a time machine to the past in your elementary school and imagine a kid came to class with an iPhone. Imagine how awestruck the whole class will be even if the phone has no signal? Now imagine yourself as the teacher of that class writing about an iPhone. Point is, you need to have an imaginative mind and think out what others would not ordinarily think of. If you can, be futuristic! Write about flying cars or Nigeria having constant Electricity!!! It might sound impossible now, but so was an iPhone years ago.

2. Create three-dimensional characters
Say you’re writing about a brilliant Lawyer who is having an adulterous affair. This is a good start, but to avoid turning him into a cliché, you need to fill him out in three dimensions. In every paragraph, tell the reader exactly how high, wide, and long he is. For instance: “Jamie Wilder, a brilliant Lawyer who stood six feet one, with a size-thirty-four waist and a chest girth of forty inches, was having an adulterous affair.” Also mention that he drives a flashy sports car.


Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/steps-writing-good-fiction/

50 Surprisingly Simple Ways to Promote Your Book

If there’s one question that is eternal and ongoing in any author community, then it’s how to sell more books.

Sales are always on our mind and wherever we are in the bestseller chart, we look a little enviously at those above us.

In this article, we have ideas and solutions for you — 50 of them in fact — which should be more than enough ways to promote your book.

Promoting your book, isn’t all about the launch. Launches are designed around getting your book into a bookshop — and keeping it there; whereas with digital books, your book is always in stock — and therefore your timeline for promotion is much longer.

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/50-surprisingly-simple-ways-to-promote-your-book/

What is the Best Day to Promote Your Book?

We all know that the December holiday season is a great time to sell more books. People are in buying mode already, so they are more willing to purchase a book. People are receiving Kindles as gifts, so they want to find some books to load up on their new devices.

If you can take advantage of it, you want to try to get as many sales as you can during this time, because it will lead to even more sales.
The problem is, there is a ton of competition at that time of the year!

Since everyone else is trying to sell more books, promote their books, and cash in on this time of year, your promotional efforts won’t do as well as they normally would since you are competing with everyone else’s promotional efforts for their books!


Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/what-is-the-best-day-to-promote-your-book/

What is the Best Day to Promote Your Book?

We all know that the December holiday season is a great time to sell more books. People are in buying mode already, so they are more willing to purchase a book. People are receiving Kindles as gifts, so they want to find some books to load up on their new devices.

If you can take advantage of it, you want to try to get as many sales as you can during this time, because it will lead to even more sales.
The problem is, there is a ton of competition at that time of the year!

Since everyone else is trying to sell more books, promote their books, and cash in on this time of year, your promotional efforts won’t do as well as they normally would since you are competing with everyone else’s promotional efforts for their books!

That holiday season is great, but it can be tough to sell more books and be noticed when everyone else is trying to do the same.
Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/what-is-the-best-day-to-promote-your-book/

5 Bad Practices in Social Media Management

Social media has come to stay, that is why you see individuals across income levels, large, medium and small-scale organisations, as well as public figures and institutions scurrying to have a notable presence on popular social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Medium, to mention a few.

The fact that you took the time to read this is another strong indication of the importance ascribed to social media these days. Business schools now dedicate modules to teaching it as part of the strategy for business success. Not to mention that 32-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, the largest social media network, is currently the 5th richest man in the world with an estimated worth of $56.0 billion.

In this age and time, to be without a social media presence is like living in the Dark Ages. That on its own has unsavoury implications for a public figure or prominent organisation, as it means unscrupulous fellows will go ahead to create a social media accounts in the name of such persons or entities and use such to defraud innocent people.


Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/5-bad-practices-in-social-media-management/

As an author, do you struggle with using social media to sell books and connect with readers?

Not sure how much time you should be spending on social media and what you should be doing during that time?

Can you really find more readers using social media?

How do you promote my book properly on social media?

If you are wondering about any of these questions, then you are not alone. Many authors struggle with the same sorts of questions.

So, let’s a look at few of those questions and get tips on how to command the social media ‘beast’ and tame it.

How Long Does It Take for An Author to Build a Presence Online?

Read more at; https://www.issacharprojects.com/learn-to-use-social-media-to-sell-your-books/