Publication Design


Self-published and Independent Authors


Web Design


“The Little Book of Gold” by Erik Hanberg

Overview

by Erik Hanberg
This is a personal story of my own publishing experience that launched Mary’s and my work with authors.

The Little Book of Gold was inspired by my experience with small non-profits. Their passion was strong, their fundraising not-so-much. This how-to manual for small and very small non-profits is my attempt to sort though the good and the bad of fundraising. What works for small non-profits, and what doesn’t.

Publishing, Marketing, the Sales Campaign

After I finished writing, we worked collaboratively on the project. I decided I didn’t want to try to solicit a publisher for it. I believed that with such a small niche market, I was better off seeking them out myself. In addition, I wanted them to by my customers, not Amazon’s customers or some other publisher’s customers, because I wanted to be able to go back to them and market products that weren’t necessarily books.

With that decision made, Mary took on the task of book design, and laid out a beautiful 134 page paperback book. We chose to use Lulu.com as a print-on-demand printer, but only allowed copies to be ordered by us directly. Meanwhile, I began the marketing of the book: I sent draft copies to non-profit managers across the country for their reviews, he created a blog-style website to sell the book on exclusively, and then crafted an online ad campaign to drive sales.

Results

As a result of our combined effort, The Little Book of Gold has helped non-profits all over the country get their fundraising house in order. I’ve had to order several runs of books (usually in small quantities of 25 to 50) to meet the demand.


The book cover