Erik Emery Hanberg

Erik Emery Hanberg was the first guest speaker in our TINST 207 class.   He is an acclaimed author of short mystery and sci-fi novels.  He serves as one of the five elected Commissioners for the Metro Parks of Tacoma, WA.  Erik Hanberg also holds a position as a Clerk of the Board of the Zoo Liaison Committee and the Joint Municipal Action Committee in Tacoma.

Erik gave a power point presentation focused primarily on his background and his career as a part time author.  He started writing and selling short story novels and took advantage of the internet and online market.  He sells his books on iTunes, NOOK, Amazon.it, Google Play and Scribd and had them translated to a few different languages.  He keeps up with his audience through Twitter, Facebook and blog posts to advertise his new publications.  That is a smart way to keep your audience in the loop. 
            A few years ago it was very hard and competitive to find a good book publisher for the new books, but now internet has made it easier for authors to bypass the new book screening process.  You can create and self-publish your books online through www.lulu.com and www.Amazon.com etc. without having to write book proposals and pitch your book to the publishers.  With the ease of self-publishing books you can put your book out faster and choose between the print and eBook versions.  The only downfall is that you get paid a little less than publishing through a major bookseller.  But it evens out eventually as the time progresses because you make more money or more money per book sale as the book sale volume increases.