Welcome to the Home Page of JOE Publishing Group

My name is C. Jeff Oakes and I set this section of my site up to serve as the publishing arm of Oakes Writing Consultants.  Oakes Writing Consultants is dedicated to helping writers write better.  This covers everything from writing for web sites to writing for print and electronic publication to working as a ghost writer for someone else.

But I am especially pleased to now offer publishing services for aspiring writers.

When I first began looking at getting my own books published, I was lost as to how to go about doing so.  I looked into developing query letters to send to major book publishers and soon found that I really didn’t like all the bureaucratic nonsense–to me, trying to get my book published by the “big boys” seemed too much like dealing with the government.  So I knew that seeking publication in that avenue was not for me.

Then I looked at several of the online e-book publishing companies that are popping up all over the Internet and found out very quickly that they all are pretty much the same–pay us several hundred dollars and we will “publish,” which simply meant they would print my book.  Of course, none can guarantee sales, so it seemed that all I would be doing is paying a bunch of money to get my book into print.

Around this time, I was beginning to hear all the buzz about how easy it was to self-publish e-books and paperbacks so I checked into it.  Since Amazon is the biggest, I figured their platform would be the easiest to learn and master–wrong.  When I first checked into self-publishing through Amazon, it was a nightmare.  Nothing was easy, so I set that notion aside and looked into publishing on a website.  Really, I was less interested in making money than having an outlet for my work.

It was then that I discovered WordPress and was able to quickly get a blog site up and running.  At the same time, I had developed an interest in understanding how SEO and content marketing worked.  I began to experiment on my blog to learn what worked and what did not.  During this time, I built my site very well and managed an impressive rating with lots of traffic.

Then, I decided to self-host so that I could perhaps make some income from all the traffic and in the process I made a fatal error that cost me ALL my traffic.  I have since recovered for the most part.  But something else happened around this time.  I decided to check into self-publishing my books again and discovered that Amazon had streamlined and become far simpler.  Within a week, I published my first e-book.  I was stoked.  I was on fire.  I just knew I had a best-seller.

It tanked.  I couldn’t get a sale for a long time and then when I did, it got returned.  What did I do?

I wrote another (sort of, I actually already had the material but simply needed to compile).  It tanked.

So I compiled another book.  Tank.  Tank. Tanks again.

Finally, I landed on an idea.  Another website I run, Collapse Consultants, was getting traffic every day even though I had done nothing with it in months.  I figured that the information on that site much hold value to others and decided to write a book based on what I had put there, but actually complete (the site was never completed).  I soon landed on my first best-seller, Survive and Thrive After the Collapse of the Dollar.  Why do I tell you all this?

Because I am a small Indie book publisher who knows what it is like to be so excited about a book and only see it dump like a truck.

But also because as a small indie book publisher, I can do things that the big companies cannot–I can decide quickly if I want to publish your book.  And unlike the companies I found that wanted hundreds of dollars to essentially just print my book, I can do it for nothing.  I have merged self book publishing with traditional book publishing, providing the best of both worlds.

There are two primary things I learned from self-publishing my e-books, then later printed books.

1. If you want to be a writer, don’t stop writing.  Keep publishing books whether anyone buys them or not.  Sooner or later, someone will write a nice review that will give you the greatest boost and after that, you won’t care if you sell a book.
2. Market.  Market.  Market.  Market yourself, market your books.  There are two roads to success as a writer of books.  You can either get in with the major publishers who have entire marketing departments or you can self-publish/Indie publish.  In taking the latter route, the major extent of the marketing falls on your shoulders as a writer so you had better learn all you can and put it to work.

That’s it.  There are no secret formulas or hidden truths.  Do these two things and eventually you will be earning a living from writing.

Now, all that said, what can I do for you here at JOE Publishing Group?

First, as long as your book is legal, edited, and publishable, I will publish it.

I do not charge to publish and pay royalties just like traditional publishers.

However, as I am a small Indie book publisher, I do not yet have the marketing tentacles that the larger firms have, but I do have experience.  I can teach you what you need to know and provide some marketing support for your books.  On this site, I have begun a Marketing section to help writers learn how to promote their books.

I have added the JOEPub forum for anyone wishing to network with other writers.  Even fans are permitted to join the forum and this can provide you with additional marketing outreach if you let them know about it on your website or Facebook page or where ever you get your name out there.

I provide a page on this site for all my authors which can further extend your marketing reach.  These author pages are used to provide a bio, excerpts from books, and any promotions we are running.

Authors with JOE Publishing Group receive their own password to the reports page so that they can keep track of their sales every week.

I am in the process of setting up special emails for the Authors so that they can have a separate, more professional email through which to correspond with others in their business.

Through the pages of Oakes Writing Consultants, content writing tips, job-seeking information, and other useful items can be found.  I am planning on adding a jobs board soon as well.

I even have two special sections on this site to help writers.  The first is my bookstore in which I have provided a good selection of both writing and reference books I have found useful as well as special deals through Amazon on office equipment, computers, and other writers essentials.  Writers can even find their own books in the bookstore on this site.  The second is the Free Book Section where anyone can sign up and begin receiving free books from White Dove.

Lastly, should anyone need a way to read the e-books sold through Amazon, the company has graciously provided links to free Kindle reader app that can be placed on virtually any platform.  Read about the free Kindle reader app.

If you have made it to the end of this article, which I see has run quite lengthy, either you love to read or are really bored and had nothing better to do.  If you enjoy reading that much, go back and check out the free book section now because I have run out of things to say.

Oh, except that if you enjoy my site, don’t forget to book mark using your favorite linking system below and sign up for my newsletter at the bottom of this page.

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