Kelvin Eldridge of JustLocal and Renée Barber of Rising Star Designs & Communication have teamed up to help Australian authors sell their books.

As a writer, editor and designer, Renée has assisted authors with self-publishing. In doing so, she noticed that distribution networks for self-published works (and sometimes those of 'traditional' publishing channels) often leave authors with piles of their lovingly crafted books languishing dustily in spare bedrooms and garages. This opportunity is intended to get those books out of their hiding places and into the hands of buyers.

The JustLocal book project involves no up-front costs for authors and only a small 10% commission on sales. In return, authors will receive a free web page to promote their book(s) and the benefit of the umbrella effect of JustLocal’s great Google rating.

You might be thinking, 'What's the catch?' A 10% commission for all that effort is unbelievably low.

We don't think of it as a catch, but why we do this is the JustLocal book project is a cooperative marketing effort.

We ask all authors who join the JustLocal book project to help promote the project.

In particular, we ask that once your page goes live that you email your family, friends and contacts and let them know your book is live on the JustLocal book project www.book.JustLocal.com.au.

We also ask that all material required for the JustLocal book page project be prepared to the specifications provided. We are already subsidising the project and are not able to prepare material at no cost.

This means if all your material is prepared, there is no upfront cost to participate and thus no risk.

Our focus is to assist authors with printed books. Authors with printed books can provide the additional option of an eBook.

Overview of how the JustLocal book page works

Authors contact us using the Join Now page to promote their book(s).

We then create a web page based on material provided by the author and add their book to the main JustLocal book page.

When customers come to the JustLocal book page, they can immediately access an author's page by clicking on the image for the book.

They then simply complete the form and an email is sent to the author (with a copy to Kelvin and Renée for record-keeping and marketing purposes) to handle the fulfilment request.

What does it cost authors?

There are no upfront cost to authors. In fact, authors receive services normally valued at over $300.

There is a 10% commission on all sales made as a result of our efforts, which is to be paid at the end of each month.

JustLocal is based on the philosophy of friends helping friends. Therefore, we ask authors who have their books listed to send an email to all of their contacts letting them know that their book is now available on the JustLocal book page www.JustLocal.com.au/book. By helping in this way, everyone benefits.

Advantages to authors

• There is no cost to participate unless sales are made.
• The web site plus advertising on JustLocal is valued at hundreds of dollars and is being made available for free. (NB: After the initial web page is approved by the author, author-initiated updates will be charged out at $9 for each 6-minute interval. As you can appreciate, since we're already providing a free web page, we simply cannot justify providing free updates.)
• Because all authors send out emails to their contacts, all authors can potentially benefit.
• To obtain additional promotion, authors can set up a domain name for around $10 US a year and use their JustLocal page to promote their book. This can save hundreds of dollars. See the Services page for further information.
• Authors benefit from the momentum of JustLocal. JustLocal was created by the same person who created the Australian English spell check dictionaries helping over 100,000 Australians who use products such as OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Microsoft Word and many other commercial and open source products.
• We promote the book page to our mailing lists, networking groups and other affiliates at no cost to authors.

Advantages to customers

• Customers get easy access to a wide range of creative works, which they may not normally have access to or even know about. This includes short story and poetry collections, which typically struggle to find a market in Australia, young-adult and children's fiction, non-fiction (including some fantastic business-related titles) and many more gems that we will have the pleasure of discovering.
• Customers know their buying power is helping authors directly.
• Customers know that at JustLocal we remove businesses which do not conduct themselves appropriately.
• Customers know the information they submit is treated confidentially and will not be passed on to other organisations. In addition, customers can be assured that email and mailing address contact details will only be used for periodic book-related correspondence and promotional material. Customers are free to opt out at any time by simply emailing a request to book@justlocal.com.au or replying to the email and asking to be removed.
  

Detailed steps to promote your work on JustLocal

The following are the steps required to participate on the JustLocal book page.

1. Use the Join Now option on the JustLocal book page to submit your details. The information requested includes: a short blurb (approximately 100 words), the book title, the price (with or without postage) and the number of books you have available for sale.
2. Email a .jpg image of your book cover and a PDF of the first chapter (or reasonable amount) of your book to book@justlocal.com.au. Remember that this is the same material customers will use to determine if they want to purchase your book.
3. Create a graphic to appear on the JustLocal book page. This graphic is 100 by 50 pixels, saved in the png format and must be 1,024 bytes or less. (If you have trouble with the graphic, seek assistance from a computer knowledgeable friend.)
   
4. After receiving your material, we will then review it for suitability. If your book is accepted, we will create your web page.
5. You will be given a spot on the JustLocal book page and we will email you to ask you to review your page and approve it.
6. It is at this point that we all start promoting your book on the JustLocal book page. We will add your entry to the full book listing and over time to our blog to let others know your book is available. You should send the link to your friends, associates and clubs, with a copy to us wherever possible.
7. When someone is interested in your book, they will complete the form and submit it. You will receive a copy of the email (as will we). You should then process the request in a timely fashion and follow up to ensure the person receives the book.
8. At the end of each month, you are asked to deposit the commission of 10% of the sales made during the month. (NB: Commission does not apply to postage.) Bank details will be provided after you have joined. You should not be concerned if the commission only represents a few books. Each sale makes a difference.

A note regarding review copies of books

Should authors wish to have their books reviewed, they should send all of the above-mentioned information along with a note requesting a review to book@justlocal.com.au. They will then be provided with a postal address to which to send the book. Because of the time (and thus cost) involved in reviewing books, they will not be returned. Therefore, please don't send books to us unless you're fine with that proviso.

Summary

This promotion costs you nothing when there is no activity, and only 10% when there is lots of activity. You could not ask for better than that.

As JustLocal friends, you will benefit from the wide-range of services available from partners, such as Rising Star Designs & Communication. For further information, visit the Services page.

We will be regularly asking people about their experience with the JustLocal book page, as we do care about people using the JustLocal service and we want to make sure that people are happy.

We will also be sending emails to promote the book page and let everyone know of updates. This is designed to benefit all authors involved as it will increase traffic.

We would like to thank you for joining us on this journey. To us, it is an exciting time, as we're helping Aussie writers increase their ability to sell their work on a larger scale than is currently possible with isolated (or no!) web sites.

Most of all, at JustLocal we believe in keeping things relaxed and fun, so we hope you enjoy this service.

If you have good experiences, feel free to share them. If you have a not-so-good experience, we would like to hear about it also as it helps us improve.

We wish you only good things.


Regards

Kelvin Eldridge		Renée Barber
JustLocal		Rising Star Designs & Communication
(An Online Connections service)