Weakness of the 5 Big Publishers

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… and what you can do better as an author-publisher.

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Large traditional publishers have relationships with book stores and book chains. They have publicists working for them to promote their books and editors to polish the final products. They have established relationships with their customers over many years or even decades. They submit books to all the major book awards. Imagine trying to research, compile, address, and pay for 200 give-away books and shipping just to put them in the hands of jurors. And I’m sure there are a lot more things that they do to get books to the readers.
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To learn where they miss the boat is to gain access to a market segment and marketing ideas that you might have overlooked.
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1. New York Publishers Don’t Think Outside the Mainstream
Publishers have particular criteria they look for in a successful book; the first is mainstream appeal, which is understandable since they have to appeal to a larger bookstore-driven market. If you have a book that is outside the mainstream, this is actually good news, unless you’re trying to find a major house to pick you up. The idea here is to understand that traditional publishing dominates the mainstream, but it’s the niches that tend to do very well. You’ll see these books in places like book clubs or the Writer’s Digest book collection and smaller, niche publishing houses.
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2. New York Publishers Don’t Do Consumer Research
Yes, often publishers do not do consumer research. How do publishers know what to publish? They tend to rely on bookstores to direct their attention, as well as trends. What does this mean for you? If you have access to consumer data, you are light years ahead of the big six. Sometimes just having a mailing list on your website or even having a website where you interact with your consumer is sufficient. If you have access to this data and you are publishing mainstream, you are a very valuable writer to any publisher out there. Having access to this data is crucial for most of us and seen as a bonus when a publisher is considering a manuscript.
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3. New York Publishers Don’t Publish to Niche Markets
Niche markets have no appeal to publishers and ironically, that’s where the trend of successful authors is headed: into the niches. Niches can be powerful but New York publishers stay away from them. Their entire model is set up to cater to mainstream product, so to slot some obscure, niche work in there would never work.
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4. New York Publishers Don’t Sell Direct to Consumers
Publishers don’t sell from their websites; many have tried and failed. Why? Because the publisher isn’t the brand, the author is. This is starting to change in some areas as publishers seek to bypass Amazon and gather their share of the consumer market. Most consumers don’t really identify with a publisher as much as they do an author or a trusted online shopping portal like Amazon or BN.com.
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5. New York Publishers Only Promote Their Authors to the Top 30 Media Markets
When publishers develop marketing plans for their books, they don’t look at markets that aren’t in the top 30.  Knowing the landscape and marketplace will position you for success and you likely won’t get caught off guard by a stumbling block or situation that could have been avoided. Know your market – the more you do, the faster you will succeed!
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Excerpts, re-blogged from “The Book Marketing Expert newsletter,” a free eZine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 750 of them : )  if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://pinterest.com/111publishing/

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http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Writing is an Art – Publishing is a Business!

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British Columbia, Canada

You might belong to these talented authors who have written a fantastic book – or several, but you just don’t have the sales numbers your book(s) deserves.

You realized that selling and marketing is a completely different process to writing and publishing your book. And you are not alone:

Very few writers have a degree in marketing / business or experience in publishing and selling on- and offline.

Barely any author is really planning their book and its promotion. Only when frustration sets in, they think about getting help.

However, throwing lots of money into advertising is very costly and in the best case, might be only a rather short-term solution.

Creating a brand long-term, and a platform from where you can communicate with your readers is more efficient, almost free and a solid base for future books and their sales numbers.

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The Internet is full of bogus stories.
Writers claim to have sold hundred-thousands of their books in short time or claim bestseller status, and cash in on these stories.  When you look behind the scenes, they have either paid for hundreds of reviews or a service company bought ten-thousands of their own books (which these authors had to advance), catapulting them to New York Times bestseller status. All this false hype brings writers to think their book is a failure if not showing up in bestseller lists. Wrong!
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Becoming an author-publisher is a long-term commitment and requires hundreds of small steps on the path to success!
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An increasing number of authors gets book marketing help from us. You might know that we

• offer weekend classes, 
• individual, yet very inexpensive online seminars, targeted to your needs, 
• and even a publishing / book marketing seminar at sea.
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What is included in this marketing training and help?
You might have seen the long list of support URL , we give authors. But what really is included in the marketing planning, the creation of a platform and the brand of you as an author? There is so much behind the scenes what’s involved, have a closer look at some of what we do:

We evaluate your current publishing situation:

• What is the market for your book, your competition, your audience? Is it a popular genre, or more of a niche? Is your book in the right genre? Did you tap the full potential of categories – which can be boon or bust for your book?
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• What is your publishing situation: traditional publishing, author-publishing or God forbid, vanity publishing or contracting with an aggregator? Do you own your ISBN, do you have access to your online retailers’ publishing account? How long lasts your publishing contract?
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• Did you create separate author/book pages on Goodreads, Google+, Pinterest, Facebook and other communities? Does your author page at online retailers need improvement?
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• What was your previous marketing strategy? What worked, what not? Did you have a book launch, re-launch, any special promotions? How often and how well was your book reviewed? In which promotion did your publisher invest? Is it positioned properly?
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• What is your following on social media – and your involvement? Do you have at least 1,000 Goodreads friends, 2,000 twitter followers and the same on Google+, 500 Facebook friends and did you add your book to your Pinterest account? These might be numbers only, but did you choose the right keywords to find quality followers, such as readers, reading, book lovers, bookworms?
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• Do you show off your writing skills? Are you writing regularly blogs? Does your website have a prominent button to your sales pages? Did you write guest blogs on influential book bloggers pages?
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• What are your activities in getting book reviews? Have you sent out press releases in order to get interviews, radio / TV appearances or features in magazines / newspapers?
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• How do you approach reviewers? And have you joined reader / writer communities on Goodreads or made friends with their most popular book reviewers?
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• What are your long-term goals? Where will you be as a writer in 3 years? What will be your author brand and how will you be different from other authors in your genre?

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Getting a clear picture about your situation as an author
and that of your books, we can meet you by phone / skype and discuss details, including publishing possibilities, if your book is not yet finished, before we start customized promotion of your book through a series of articles, interviews and book recommendations.
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An important focus will be on support for Social Media communication:
Where and how can your presence be improved? How can you get more followers? How to implement your blog posts? This includes also lots of individual tips and links for your book project, explained in person or emailed to you regularly.

We certainly help you through our very well-established social media presence on all major sites to get the word out about your book and you as an author – as well as support for free KDP Select days and other promotions. Which means we tweet to our 40,000+ followers on these days, we place additional articles on social media sites and do everything for your book’s success

Most important:

Advertising your books, as well as the article and the interview we did with you and all the postings on our Social Media sites stay there FOREVER! This way it will have a long-term effect on your book sales. More details in a blog post or on http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar.
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And this is what former clients say:

“This was the best choice I have ever made! I have learned so very much from a person that has 30 years of experience in the book publishing industry!”
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“I’ve gotten more than my money’s worth with the great publicity you’ve already given me. I cannot stress enough just how grateful I am – I don’t think too many service providers are anywhere near as diligent as you are.”
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“This service is truly a one-on-one feature in that she works directly with the client, fine-tuning your social media platform contributing to the success of your business.”
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“Thank you so much. You are amazing, so helpful to all of us who are starting down the road of self publishing. I just printed that blog post off this morning and will start to act on it today. You are an inspiration.” Thanks again for everything.”
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“If ANYONE is self-publishing a book, I highly recommend using her for consulting. Thank you Doris for saving me $3,700″
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“Boy, you really provide a service. If you ever need a reference, count me in. Anything I can do to promote you back. You rock.
J. H.”
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“Doris “Thank you so much. You are amazing, so helpful to all of us who are starting down the road of self publishing. I just printed that blog post off this morning and will start to act on it today. You are an inspiration. Thanks again for everything.”

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We will show you how to market your book on a consistent and ongoing basis – for only a token fee of $98 for three months.  As you can see from the amount of time we invest for every author, we are not making money, rather see it as a service for like-minded folks. So, how can we help you as an author of a marvelous book – and hopefully many more to come?

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What Should Writers Do: Begging or Selling?

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Dean Wesley Smith

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Dean Wesley Smith wrote a great, although somewhat blunt post:

“If you follow an old model, you send your manuscript to either an editor or an agent: Imagine yourself standing at the door of a restaurant in ragged clothes, hat-in-hand, begging for some food. You have no bargaining power, no position to try to get a decent contract (meal). And if you are with a slush-reading agent, imagine that you now only get a part of what little bit of food they are willing to toss you.

If you follow the new, indie-publishing model: Imagine you own your own business. You have money coming in the door, have customers, and a growing list of products. A representative of a major corporation shows up in your store and asks to buy some of your product for their company. You know what the product is worth and you know you can get decent contract terms. They have come to you, into your business, and it is an even bargaining position for both of you, business to business. They want what you are selling. You can decide if the money and terms are worth for you, selling it.”
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He writes (in a nutshell):
“I have no idea

• why any writer would spend so much time writing a book and then not allow that book to earn for them while it was being looked at by traditional publishers.
• why any writer would send any manuscript into a traditional, old-style slush pile.
• why anyone would even think of sticking with the old model of begging at a publisher’s door with a manuscript in a  slush pile.

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Just as we had to learn how to do cover letters and synopsis of novels that would help our books sell, the writers of today need to learn how to do covers and cover blurbs and tag lines that will help their books sell.”
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Read the whole story, in which he explains where the word “Slush pile” comes from and how publishing / author-publishing evolved in the last 70 years. Very interesting read for authors, new and established:  http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=8787

Dean Wesley Smith is also the Author of The New World of Publishing  A Hard Look at the New World of Indie and Traditional Publishing among dozens of others in a variety of genres.

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Traditional Published Authors Interested in Self-Publishing

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A third of traditionally published authors are interested in self-publishing their next book,
according to a new survey from Digital Book World and Writer’s Digest. The survey, “What Authors Want: A Comprehensive Survey of Authors to Understand Their Priorities in the Self-Publishing Era”, queried nearly 5,000 aspiring, self-published, traditionally published and “hybrid” authors (authors who have both self-published and traditionally published). It was presented at the Digital Book World Conference + Expo.

This trend should be worrisome for traditional publishers, which are struggling to demonstrate to the marketplace that they add value to the publishing process in an era where anyone can publish a book.  Perhaps of even more concern is that two-thirds of hybrid authors are interested in self-publishing their next book. It’s not surprising given the context of the rest of the survey: Time and again, hybrid authors had relatively negative opinions about publishing companies — that they keep too much money, don’t “get” digital and, generally, don’t add much to their publishing process.

At the same time, when offered the opportunity to publish traditionally, nearly three-quarters of hybrid authors are interested and — also good news for publishers — about two-thirds of self-published authors are interested. The prestige of a traditional publisher, the wide distribution a publisher can generate and help with marketing were all reasons cited.

Read the whole article by Jeremy Greenfield: 
What Authors Want: A Third of Published Authors Interested in Self-Publishing Next Book

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My thoughts on this excerpt, especially the last sentence: 
Both ways of publishing have their positives and vice versa. However the perception of traditional publishing is often not up to date in public , as the way of book marketing has totally changed. Only celebrity authors get the full PR treatment, other writers have to fend for themselves, and they often do not realize that their books have only a maximum of three months to survive on the bookstores shelves until they will be pulled out and returned to the publisher or discarded. 
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The prestige of a traditional publishers is also dwindling, as some of them, such as Penguin / Random House ally with dubious POD’s, establishing a subsidiary in an attempt to jump onto the self-publishing bandwagon and find a way to fleece unsuspecting writers.
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Even the wide distribution a publisher can generate is something, authors can organize these days by themselves: as soon as they have at least three print books (not necessarily their own, they can also partner with other writers) they can establish a publishing firm and work with Lightning Source / Ingram and have their print books distributed worldwide.

E-books can easily be uploaded at Amazon, Kobo, B&N, Apple and a dozen more online retailers. Proof-reading, copy editing, editing, book layout, cover design, translations, printing… just about everything can be outsourced by the author – including book marketing and PR.

Best advice for any author is to familiarize themselves with every aspect of the publishing
process, to consult a professional to get a clear picture of the time/financial involvement and
advice from a contract lawyer before they sign up any publishing contracts including those of
Print on Demand Publishing.

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10 Changes In Book Publishing

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Guest Blog by Rayne Hall

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How times changed… Self-publishing today is a completely different world. The publishing business suddenly transformed itself from bookstores / distribution model to an environment in which books were bought by consumers online – either as physical books or increasingly: e-books. And this has altered the entire modus operandi of the industry:

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1. In the past, most authors worked for editors. Today, most editors work for authors.
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2. Most books went from author to agent to publisher to distributor to bookseller to reader. Now, more and more go from author to distributor to reader, cutting out most middlemen.
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3. To be commercially viable, books had to sell enough copies to finance a big publishing apparatus. Now, many need to pay only one person: the author.
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4. Agents and editors acted as gatekeepers, ensuring that poorly written books did not get published. Now, it’s the authors’ responsibility to ensure their books are as good as they can make them.
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5. When books were printed, word counts were critical. Nowadays with e-books, lengths are flexible; only quality counts.
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6. Once a book was published, it was too late to correct errors, change the cover or tweak the blurb; any improvements had to wait until the print-run had sold out. With e-books, anything can be changed any time.

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7. Many publishers prevented communication between readers and authors. Today, direct reader-author communication is encouraged because it sells books.
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8. Mixing genres used to make a book impossible to sell. Today, genre cross-overs sell just fine.
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9. Writers used to spend much time courting agents. Now they spend much time courting readers.
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10. “Previously published” used to lessen the value of a story. Nowadays, it’s a quality mark.

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About Rayne Hall

A trained publishing manager, Rayne Hall has worked in the publishing industry for over three decades, mostly in editorial roles in Germany, Switzerland, Mongolia, Nepal, PR China and Great Britain. She has had over 40 books published under several pen names, in several genres (mostly fantasy, horror and non-fiction), under several pen names, in several languages, by several publishers.

For a list of currently published fiction under the Rayne Hall pen name, go to http://www.amazon.com/Rayne-Hall/e/B006BSJ5BK

She teaches online workshops for intermediate, advanced and professional level writers who are serious about improving their writing craft skills. For an up-to-date schedule of upcoming workshops see https://sites.google.com/site/writingworkshopswithraynehall/

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are almost 570 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Follow on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris

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How the Top Rich 400 Made Their Money:

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Maybe a little off-topic – yet, throughout this blog I posted quite frequently tips about entrepreneurship and self-publishing for authors. This morning I found by chance a great article at Inc.com that shows IRS data – and why it does not pay to be employed.

How the top 400 made their money:

Wages and salaries: 8.6%
Interest: 6.6%
Dividends: 13%
Partnerships and corporations: 19.9%
Capital gains: 45.8%
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Obvious conclusions:

• Working for a salary won’t make you rich!!!
• Neither will making only safe “income” investments.
• Neither will investing only in large companies.
• Owning a business or businesses, whether in part or partnership, could not only build a solid wealth foundation but could someday…
• Generate a huge financial windfall.

Clearly, getting rich–in monetary terms–is the result of investing in yourself and others, taking risks, doing a lot of small things right… and then doing one big thing really, really right. And hopefully achieving other goals along the way–because then, even if you don’t get rich, you’ll still be wealthy.

Read the whole article:  http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/how-the-rich-got-rich.html?nav=pop

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If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out previous posts (there are almost 500 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “Like” next to it.

Follow us on Twitter: @111publishing

And don’t forget to spread the word on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr or StumbleUpon – or other social networking sites of your choice) – other writers might also enjoy this blog and find it useful.

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Why Big Publishers Need to Compete with Amazon

FORBES writer Jeremy Greenfield:
“A decade ago, the only way to have a book published and sold on store shelves was to sell it to a book publisher that would help edit, design and distribute it.

Today, anyone who can type and has an internet connection can have her book for sale at the world’s largest bookstore — Amazon — in a matter of hours.

If an author can go to Kindle Direct Publishing or Barnes & Noble’s PubIt!, instantly publish their own book and then collect up to 70% of the sale price as a royalty as opposed to the 15% to 25% that many traditional publishers offer on e-books, why wouldn’t they?

That’s a question that many authors are asking themselves in the e-book era. And publishers are answering it.

Several major book publishers have recently come out with aggressive statements asserting what they do and all the work that goes into publishing a successful book. Publishers are now openly competing for author talent with self-publishing sites.

So, what do publishers do?” Read more here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremygreenfield/2012/06/27/what-publishing-companies-do-in-a-world-where-anyone-can-publish-a-book/

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Don’t be fooled by POD Services

 

POD Service companies are by no means publishers! Even if they call this themselves – many others don’t get it too. The expression “publisher” is unfortunately not protected. However, all of them cash in on your publishing success:
You have to pay for e-book formatting or printing, for cover & interior book design, for editing and for the ISBN number of your book - beware of this especially, as the one who ordered the ISBN number, is the publisher!  If your book sells, which you hope and what you work for with your marketing efforts, they get royalties. In the best case (for you) only 5-10% of the list price, in most cases way more.

You ask why? Well, they do some paperwork for you – which you could as well learn to do yourself. It is not a big deal to find an e-book format-er or a digital printer/binder, a cover designer and editor. This way you would hold total control about your book. Think about it.

This is a snippet from Mark Levin’s book “The Fine Print of Self-Publishing”. He is a lawyer and compiled data from POD Service companies. He also had a very close look at their “publishing” contracts. See also my blog: “Comparison of Vanity Presses” from December 29, 2011.

BookLocker: $517 (Deduct $200 if submitting your own cover)
Rated “Outstanding” by Mark Levine, attorney and author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing.
No hidden fees or upselling. Books are usually on the market within a month. No extra charge to include graphics, tables, footnotes, etc. 35% royalties based on list price for public sales; 15% royalties based on list price on wholesale/bookstore orders. Authors own all rights to their production files. Added Bonus: Returning authors are only charged $149 setup fees on their second and subsequent books.

CreateSpace: $1022.00 (Deduct $299 if submitting your own cover)
Rated “Just OK” by Mark Levine, attorney and author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing.
Add $500 to price above if you want more than one color and image featured on your cover. Limit of 10 interior images; charges $15 per image and $25 per chart/table/graph thereafter. Does NOT publish hardcover books (all others here do). IMPORTANT: BookSurge was rolled into CreateSpace in November, 2009 but they kept employees, equipment, etc.

Lulu: $1131.00 (Deduct $450 if submitting your own cover)
Rated “Pretty Good” by Mark Levine, attorney and author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing.
Lulu now charges directly for many services they previously farmed out to other companies. Lulu appears to be having customer service problems and authors are upset about their high shipping costs.

Trafford: $1324.00
Rated “Publisher to Avoid” by Mark Levine, attorney and author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing.
Warning: Has a variety of “extra” charges like $2 per page if your manuscript is submitted with incorrect headers/footers, page breaks, line and paragraph formatting, etc. Charges $5 extra per image. Expedite service available for the $2199 “Elite” package.

iUniverse: $999.00 (includes 5 “free” copies)
Rated “Publisher to Avoid” by Mark Levine, attorney and author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing.
Warning: Has a variety of “extra” charges like $2.00 per page! if your manuscript is submitted with incorrect headers/footers, page breaks, line and paragraph formatting, more than 25 photos/graphics, more than 2 images on your cover, tables, etc. They own your files after creation and you have to pay $150-$750 to get them if you leave their service! No expedite service. Turnaround is 3-4 months.

AuthorHouse: $1517.00
Rated “Publisher to Avoid” by Mark Levine, attorney and author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing.
Charges extra for photos/graphics ($5 per image after first 10 – included in cost above). Expedite fee ($500) is for publication in 30 days instead of 6 months (included above). Claims ownership of files you pay them to create…meaning you can’t use the edited/formatted files if you want to move your book later.

Xlibris: $1972.00 – (includes 5 “free” copies)
Rated “Publisher to Avoid” by Mark Levine, attorney and author of The Fine Print of Self-Publishing.
Charges expedite fee of $349 (included above) for publication in 2 months instead of 4-6 months. Charges $10 per image (included above); $20 per table. Limit of 1 cover image.

***Prices above based on least expensive package offered by each publisher on similar offers targeting U.S. authors. Fees include interior formatting (based on a 200-page book), original cover design with up to 5 images, print proof, ebook creation, up to 25 interior photos/graphics, an ISBN, barcode, a listing on the publisher’s website and distribution by Ingram, all within 6 weeks.

NOTE: Some companies claim ownership of files the author has paid them to create. Study each publisher and contract carefully before making your choice. See article: “Why POD Contracts Could Be Bad For Authors” from March 3, 2012

NOTE: All publishers offer distribution through Ingram (book distributor), as well as inclusion of their titles in the major online (amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, etc.) and physical bookstore systems – also POD books will be ordered by bookstores only if customers special-order them.

NOTE: AuthorHouse is owned by Author Solutions, a holding company that also owns Xlibris, iUniverse and Trafford. 

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The 7 Worst Mistakes And How To Fix Them

Traps

Joanna Penn recently wrote in her phantastic article: To be an independent author means taking your book project seriously. But most of us haven’t been in publishing for our whole careers it’s inevitable that we make mistakes along the way. Here is her list:

• Not spending enough time learning about you, your book and your audience
• Not getting a professional editor
• Not getting professional interior and cover design
• Doing a print run without having a distribution deal
• Paying way too much for services you can do yourself with a little education
• Doing no marketing at all, or getting shiny object syndrome
• Focusing everything into one book

Read how you can fall into these traps and how to get out – or avoid them all together.
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2012/03/04/7-worst-mistakes-indie-authors/

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The Value of Publicity – by J.A. Konrath.

J.A. Konrath says: “People consider me to be one of the mouthpieces of the self-publishing movement. As such, I often get interviewed. I’ve been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, the Washington Post, Forbes, Newsweek, USAToday, etc.  You’d think all of this publicity has lead to increased sales of my ebooks. You’d think wrong.

His tips for new authors:

• Focus, as always, on writing good books and presenting them in a professional way. The more books, the better!
• Social media and word of mouth are helpful, but you have to reach a lot of people before these become a factor. Less tweeting, more writing.
• Reviews don’t have the gravitas they used to. Certain ebook review sites can help sales, but even better is giving away free books to fans in exchange for an honest review.
• Study Amazon and how it sells ebooks. Experiment. Take chances. If one of Amazon’s imprints offers to publish you, accept. Right now they are the only publisher who can increase your sales.

He also gives this advice: Avoid all legacy publishers. You can do everything they can, faster, and you don’t have to give away the majority of your income.  Don’t give up. It can take years before you get to where you want to be. Luck plays a part. Stick with it until you get lucky.”

More on his blog: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com

BTW: One does NOT need to have a Kindle to read Kindle formatted e-books from Amazon. Amazon provides a wide variety of FREE ways to read on your PC, smartphone, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Android device, Mac, etc. Including the ability to read from any web browser via the Kindle Cloud Reader:  https://read.amazon.com

 

Comparison of Vanity Presses

The owner of Bookpublisherscompared.com, Mark Levine, did a great job in finding out all these perks and fees and published it online and more detailed in an e-book. 

The only thing I am not agreeing with him, is calling those vanity companies, “publishers” – which they are definitely not!!! These companies don’t pay any advances - instead the author has to pay for everything from editing, to cover-image to book layout to formatting or printing if it is a paper book. And on top of that the author has to split the royalties with this vanity company (often a print shop).  If the writer wants to have copies of his own book (that he had paid for production in the first place) he has to buy! them from this vanity printing company…

OK, here it goes:

http://www.createspace.com

FORMAT OF BOOKS: Paperback (authors interested in creating ebooks are forwarded to the Kindle section of Amazon.com)

GENRES ACCEPTED: CreateSpace, an Amazon.com company (now combined with BookSurge, another previously distinct Amazon.com brand), operates much the same as Lulu.com and is more of a content manager and printer than a publisher. Therefore, it does not discern genres or quality of writing; it only asks that you not use the site to print books that are disturbing
PUBLISHING FEES: CreateSpace offers a variety of services, available for review at https://www.createspace.com/pub/services.home.do. There are do-it-yourself publishing packages where it is free to upload your book (https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/Index.jsp#content2), but you need to create your own cover and interior and submit them correctly to CreateSpace. CreateSpace only recommends its do-it-yourself packages for people with design experience….. read more:

http://www.bookpublisherscompared.com

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Hyper Smash

 

Publishing Headlines in 2011

Looking back, 2011 will be remembered as the year when publishing was turned on its head.

Self-published authors, once the pariahs of the book business, gained credibility — outselling many established names and giving hope to would-be authors everywhere. Borders, the second-biggest bookstore chain in the country, went under, signaling a shift in priority from print books to e-books.

Headlines in 2011:

Steve Jobs: In 2010, Steve Jobs promised to revolutionize reading with the introduction of Apple’s iPad; in 2011, concurrent with his passing, he became the subject of possibly the bestselling book of the year: Walter Isaacson’s 656-page, $35 biography Steve Jobs. Jobs knew in life — and now in death — how to wow an audience and get people to open their wallets.

Self-publishing: Prior to 2011, the road to becoming an author was arduous, requiring a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck. Self-publishing was seen as the option of last resort. Now, dirt-cheap self-published books are topping bestseller lists at Amazon.com and elsewhere. In 2010, there were 133,036 self-published titles released, and when the numbers come in for this year, that figure is expected to double or triple. It’s said that everyone has at least one book in them, and now we can buy them.

Borders:  In 2001, Borders had more than 2,000 bookstores in the United States, 50 overseas, and earned more than $3 billion in annual revenue. In July this year, the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company went bankrupt, shuttering hundreds of stores (including several in Dallas), putting 10,000 people out of work and leaving book lovers everywhere bereft.

Barnes & Noble:  The growing popularity of e-books is credited with killing Borders (note: there was a lot of human error involved as well). Determined not to suffer the same fate, Barnes & Noble aggressively pushed e-books and put its Nook devices front-and-center in their stores. Throughout 2011, they beat arch rival Amazon to market with several innovative devices, including updated touch-screen e-ink devices and color Android tablets. The company, previously seen by many as a villain blamed for the closing of many independent bookstores around the country, became the last, best hope for those who like to browse and buy physical books in real stores.

Amazon: Ask booksellers who the biggest bully is now and they will likely tell you it is our “friends in Seattle,” as Amazon has euphemistically come to be known. The Voldemort of the book business not only controls an estimated 60 percent of e-book sales and a significant chunk of print book sales, it has now become a publisher, establishing imprints for everything from romance novels to children’s picture books and putting out more than 100 books of its own in 2011. It is even competing with the big houses in New York to pay top dollar for authors, as it did when it ponied up $800,000 to acquire a memoir by the film director Penny Marshall.

Amanda Hocking and John Locke: That generous sum falls well short of the reported $2 million paid by St. Martin’s Press to Amanda Hocking, the 27-year-old Minnesota author who became a hot commodity when her series of inexpensive, self-published novels about attractive magical trolls became a phenomenon. She joined thriller writer John Locke as the second self-published scribe to sell more than 1 million e-books on Amazon.com, alongside mega-bestsellers James Patterson, Nora Roberts and Janet Evanovich.

Excerpt from Publishing Perspectives

 

 

What is the Sales Cycle of an e-Book?

It is no secret that the number of self-published titles exploded during the last years.

Amazon fueled the growth by offering self-published writers 70% revenue on e-books, if they are priced between $ 2.99 and $ 9.99.  Traditional publishers typically pay their authors only 25% of net digital sales and even less on print books.

The question that most would-be self-published authors have, is how to start it and what it costs. Getting attention is an enormous challenge, although e-books have a much longer shelf life.
The biggest difference between e-books and print is the sales cycle. A chain book store buyer orders six months before the book is published, and then it has six months maximum on the shelf till the sales cycle is over.

But with e-books, it is completely the opposite.  It’s often half a year before your book takes off, and you never take it down, selling it in years from now and getting steady revenue.

 

The Top 6 Tips to Successfully Publish and e-Publish

Beat the POD industry!
Are you ready to publish your first book? Follow these tips, and you will find the path to success much smoother!

Don’t wait to start marketing until your book is finished.
Many first-time publishers focus on the publishing process, and put off thinking about the marketing until they have books in hand (or in their garage). A book – no matter if it is an e-book or a traditional paper book – will succeed or fail on its marketing plan. Before starting your self-publishing project, find out who your audience is, and where and how you will find them. Move forward on a publishing project only after you have finished your marketing plan.

Bookstores don’t buy POD books.
Many novice publishers are opting for the heavily-advertised Print-On-Demand companies, which promise publication at low fees. For a niche book with an easily-found audience POD this can be an option. But what the POD companies won’t tell you,  is that neither bookstores nor libraries will generally buy a POD book. However, if you are savvy enough, you can find the right wholesale arrangement through Lightning Source / Ingram and Baker& Taylor as outlined in Aaron Shepard’s website and book http://www.newselfpublishing.com/. But don’t expect to get the same retail discount from “brick and mortar stores” as with Amazon.

You can judge a book by its cover.
That’s what most people do.  You never get a second chance for a great first impression!  You can get a decent cover for as little as $100 and a fantastic cover for around $ 500 or more.  Just shop around and find out who makes great covers.

Act like a professional publisher.
Nothing is more embarrassing as finding reviews of your book on Amazon that complain about typing and grammar errors in your work. Make sure your book is complete, well-edited, and thoroughly proofread. Use spell checks, let it copy-edit, content edit and proofread by professionals – not your family or friends.  These services provide you with a manuscript that makes you look like the professional you are.

Don’t use the print shop down the road.
Search for a printer that specializes in printing books. You will not only have fewer problems with production, but the prices will be much less expensive.  You should be able to print 300 copies of a 250-page soft cover book for approx. $ 2.50 per copy.

Get 100 ISBNs if possible.
ISBN is the acronym for International Standard Book Number, and every book sold in bookstores and at most online retailers must have an ISBN. They are the global standard for identifying titles and used world-wide as a unique identifier for books. They simplify distribution and purchase of books throughout the global supply chain. Without an ISBN, you will not be found in most book stores, nor online.  In the U.S. ISBNs are available only from Bowker.com, and you can buy them in blocks of ten, 100, or 1000. The fewer you buy the less it costs, but buying just a block of ten marks you as a one-book publisher. And everyone in the publishing industry can figure out how many ISBNs you’ve purchased by looking at your ISBN number.

Self-publishing can not only be lucrative, it can be a lot of fun too. But you need some careful planning to really enjoying true self-publishing.  A very helpful book when starting out the independent publishing route is “The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 Days” (Kindle Edition) by Fern Reiss that gives you valuable technical tips during your publishing process.

 

Self-Publishing and Entrepreneurial Authors

e-Readers

The e-book revolution is a blessing for both, readers and authors and entrepreneurial authors have the highest success of all when self-publishing.  I am predicting that e-Readers soon will be more common than a TV in households.

The old monopoly of agents and publishers controlling what and who gets published is totally broken. History proves that this elite is no better at judging the quality and potential success of books than the reading public.  Only a few bestseller authors are chosen by traditional publishers for the royal treatment, often those who don’t need the support.  But big publishers admit: “During the last weeks, HarperCollins has seen its ebook sales growing almost 10 percent, by the week”.  And Random House: “We’ve seen e-book growth outstrip our total sales.”

At the same time, though, the volume of online review sources has exploded.  And the number of reviewers who review self-published and/or indie authors is climbing.  In addition, there are a host of websites that will feature your traditionally published novel.  So it’s not as if promotion and support isn’t there – it just moved online.

Don’t forget: E-book readers tend to buy more books than none-ebook readers.

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Hyper Smash