Benefits of Becoming a Publisher

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Did you write three or more books already?
Congratulations to every author who accomplishes this with lots of perseverance. You really have earned your royalties. For sure, the “Taxman” is as happy as you are. But you also had expenses and should be able to deduct them from taxes that you pay for royalties. For sure you will write more books, so it is almost natural to register as publisher and deduct even more expenses:
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• Computer, printer, fax, scanner, copier and other office equipment
• Furniture, carpet, blinds, cleaning material, cost for a maid etc.
• Telephone, cell, wireless, cable
• Insurances, banking fees
• Software and computer training
• Travel cost such as hotel, car, taxi, plane
• Car payments, car insurance, gas, repairs
• Webhosting, Domain name, web designer
• Writers and publisher conferences
• e-Book conversions, cover design, editing, copy editing, layout and desktop publishing
• Rent / Mortgage and Heating / Electricity etc. for the space you work in – and storage for your books if you go the “paper route”.
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You can find lots of practical tips how to set up your own publishing company and how to distribute your book worldwide in a series of articles here at this blog.  Self-publishing “Guru” Dan Poynter’s book “Self-publishing Manual” describes in detail all the tax breaks.
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Another professional adviser in all things print, publishing and book distribution is Aaron Shepard, who wrote: “Aiming at Amazon” and “POD for Profit“. His great knowledge of book distribution is extremely helpful for newcomers to publishing. A good idea is to sign up for Aaron Shepard’s blog.  Learn more about the process to become a small publisher from these blogs & web sites:

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https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/how-to-plan-your-publishing-business/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/how-to-start-your-own-book-publishing-business/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/becoming-your-own-publisher-book-production/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/how-to-organize-printing-or-print-on-demand/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/distribution-of-your-print-book/

http://www.aliciadunams.com/starting-your-own-publishing-company/

http://parapub.com/sites/para/information/produce.cfm

http://www.wellfedwriter.com/blog/

http://booknotselling.blogspot.com/

http://www.bookmarket.com/
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The advantage of business ownership for independent authors far outweights the work involved.  And deciding to write a book means, that you already have decided to be in business. Go for it! What holds you back?

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/     Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 815 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 to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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11 Reasons Why You Should Offer Print Books Too

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Last October I wrote a blog post why every author should offer print versions of their e-books. 
In the meantime I discovered even more reasons to have at least a small amount of printed books
listed.  Read on:

E-book authors might be happy with their sales on Amazon, Apple, Kobo or Barnes & Noble. You might have even turned it into an audio book. But the questions for a “real” book, paper back or hard-cover copy from conservative friends or elderly family members are nagging… And wouldn’t it be nice to walk into a Chapters or Baker & Taylor or one of these rare independent book shops and see your book in the shelf?

You will not earn a fortune, not even a living, but for a couple of months it is a nice pocket change. Only months… yes, because longer than this, barely any book will stay in the book store, unless it really is a bestseller and gets re-printed.

If you go the indie route and choose for sample the POD services and worldwide distribution through Lightning Source, (provided you have at least 3 books to be considered a small publisher) your book is printed on demand and will never get discarded (good: no-return-policy in POD worldwide distribution). See my blog from last month How to Distribute Your Book Worldwide.
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All you need is the spine / back of your cover designed and professionally formatted (graphic designer, book designer, lay-outer). To work with Lightning Source you need to have at least three books to be considered a publisher and you will not receive technical help. Using CreateSpace as a POD service is the better choice if you are not a computer geek and you have less than three books.
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Due to the high print-on-demand printing costs, you need to sell a 180-page fiction book for more than $10 to make any profit at all. Still you don’t make real money with your paper book, unless you are a marketing pro, very entrepreneurial and able to organize a small publisher business and invest in your written work and in letterpress print.
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Role models are enough out there and they will tell you exactly how to do start as a real publisher with their books and blogs – from Dan Poynter, Aaron Shephard to John Kremer, Joanna Penn and Joel Friedman. Author David Gaughran wrote in one of his blogs: Making Money from Paperbacks  “I was really slow to see the potential in print, and it was probably the biggest mistake I made over the last year.”
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But then again: Why on earth should you go with a paper edition of your e-book?

1. The majority of book buyers still chooses printed books at the moment (that will change)
2. You can give out review copies to newspaper/magazine or book blog reviewers
3. To be hosted at local media / TV interviewers who want to show a copy of your book
4. To sell your book easier to libraries
5. To participate in a Goodreads giveaway
6. To sell your book to those who really don’t want an e-Reader or just love paper books
7. If you write non-fiction it is almost a must to offer it in paper as well
8. You have an ISBN number and can get listed with Bowker at worldwide bookstores
9. Physical books are just nicer to give on Christmas – unless you put an e-book on a new e-Reader and wrap it
10. To sell more e-books! Yes – because they seem to cost so much less in comparison…
11. To list your book in more categories / genres on Amazon: per book type you are allowed to choose two categories / genres. Two print and two digital versions – which increases your books’ visibility and also shows you exactly in which genre you have the most success.
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And last but not least: Think hurricanes or other reasons for power outage. I know e-Readers have batteries. But guess what: just yesterday my Kindle went dead and needed to be re-charged! With heavy thunderstorms around the house due to hurricane “Sandy”, I did not want to plug it in – and instead I read a paper book surrounded by lots of solar lamps and candles.

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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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Why You Should Sell Paper Books Too

BookStaple

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E-book authors might be happy with their sales on Amazon, Apple, Kobo or B&N. You might have even turned it into an audio book.  But the questions for a “real” book, paper back or hard-cover copy from conservative friends or elderly family members are nagging… And wouldn’t it be nice to walk into a Chapters or Baker & Taylor or one of the rare independent book shops and see your book in the shelf?

You will not earn a fortune, not even a living, but for a couple of months it is a nice pocket change. Only months… yes, because longer than this, barely any book will stay in the book store, unless it really is a bestseller and gets re-printed.

If you go the indie route and choose for sample the POD services and worldwide distribution through Lightning Source, (provided you have at least 3 books to be considered a small publisher) your book is printed on demand and will never get discarded (good: no-return-policy in POD worldwide distribution). See my blog from last month How to Distribute Your Book Worldwide.

All you need is the spine / back of your cover designed and professionally formatted (graphic designer, book designer, lay-outer). To work with Lightning Source you need to have at least three books to be considered a publisher and you will not receive technical help. Using CreateSpace as a POD service is the better choice if you are not a computer geek and you have less than three books.

Due to the high print-on-demand printing costs, you need to sell a 180-page fiction book for more than $10 to make any profit at all. Still you don’t make real money with your paper book, unless you are a marketing pro, very entrepreneurial and able to organize a small publisher business and invest in your written work and in letterpress print.

Role models are enough out there and they will tell you exactly how to do start as a reall publisher with their books and blogs – from Dan Poynter, Aaron Shephard to John Kremer, Joanna Penn and Joel Friedman. Author David Gaughran wrote in one of his blogs, Making Money from Paperbacks: “I was really slow to see the potential in print, and it was probably the biggest mistake I made over the last year.”

But then again: Why on earth should you go with a paper edition of your e-book?

• The majority of book buyers still chooses printed books at the moment (that will change)
• You can give out review copies to newspaper/magazine or book blog reviewers
• To be hosted at local media / TV interviewers who want to show a copy of your book
• To sell your book easier to libraries
• To participate in a Goodreads giveaway
• To sell your book to those who really don’t want an e-Reader or just love paper books
• If you write non-fiction it is almost a must to offer it in paper as well
• You have an ISBN number and can get listed with Bowker  at worldwide bookstores
• Physical books are just nicer to give on Christmas – unless you put an e-book on a new e-Reader and wrap it
• To sell more e-books! Yes – because they seem to cost so much less in comparison…
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And last but not least: Think hurricanes or other reasons for power outage. I know e-Readers have batteries. But guess what: just yesterday my Kindle went dead and needed to be re-charged! With heavy thunderstorms around the house due to hurricane “Sandy”, I did not want to plug it in – and instead I read a paper book surrounded by lots of solar lamps and candles.

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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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Hyper Smash

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Discover How You Can Profitably Self-Publish a Book

Get all your publishing questions answered – self-publishing that is – at the 4th annual Self-Publisher’s Online Conference (SPOC) May 8-10, 2012 

Expert speakers include: Dan Poynter, Chris Garrett, Peter Bowerman, Joel Friedlander, Dan Janal, Sandra Beckwith, Susan Daffron, James Byrd, Dana Lynn Smith, Penny Sansevieri, Joshua Tallent, Carolyn McCray, Roger C. Parker, Andrea Vahl, Gary Barnes and Kathy Goughenhour.
Read about these speakers (they are the “who is who” in publishing advice) at http://www.selfpublishersonlineconference.com/Agenda.aspx

Each day has a “theme” that is designed to help you reach your publishing goals.  Note: ALL Times are PACIFIC time.  SPOC is a virtual conference, so you can attend in your pyjamas if you like.

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Day 1 – WRITING / PUBLISHING May 8

9-10 am (PDT)
James Byrd & Susan Daffron
The Big Picture: How to Bring Your Book into the World

11am -12 noon (PDT)
Chris Garrett
Be More Productive and Build Your Authority

1-2 pm (PDT)
Writing & Publishing
Q&A Roundtable

3-4 pm (PDT)
Peter Bowerman
The “Write Way” to Publish and Promote

5-6 pm (PDT)
Joel Friedlander
Publishing Strategies for Self-Publishers

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Day 2 – PROMOTING YOUR BOOK May 9

9-10 am (PDT)
Dan Janal
Build Your Brand and Get More Prospects with Publicity

11am -12 noon (PDT)
Sandra Beckwith
What’s Your Hook?

1-2 pm (PDT)
Book Promotion
Q&A Roundtable

3-4 pm (PDT)
Dana Lynn Smith
Top 10 Book Promotion Strategies for Authors

5-6 pm (PDT)
Penny Sansevieri
Fans, Followers and Friends: Maximize Social Media to Sell More Books

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Day 3 – E-BOOKS, INFOPRODUCTS & BEYOND May 10

9-10 am (PDT)
Joshua Tallent
Ebook Design, Formats and Workflow

11am -12 noon (PDT)
Carolyn McCray
Maximize Your Book Sales on Amazon.com

1-2 pm (PDT)
Ebooks & Beyond
Q&A Roundtable

3-4 pm (PDT)
Roger C. Parker
Leveraging Your Book into Prospects, Products, & Profits

5-6 pm (PDT)
Andrea Vahl
Build Your Expert Status with a Powerful Social Media and Publishing Combination.

All passes give you access to the virtual SPOC Exhibit Hall and seminar recordings. They will give you access to the SPOC Exhibit Hall and seminar recordings.

$147.00 – SPOC 2012 Standard Pass.
Enter the coupon code FFW12 at checkout and you will save 10%!

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What Does it Cost to Publish?

Dan Poynter, the self-publishing guru  wrote:

“Let’s compare prices for traditional ink-press printing, digital PQN (Print Quantity Needed) and POD (Print-On-Demand, one book at a time). We will compare a softcover (perfect bound) 144 page 5.25 x 8.25 book with black text and a four-color cover. These estimates depend on the current prices for paper, labor etc.

1. Press (ink on paper): $1.55 each but you have to print at least 3,000 to get a price this low. So, your print bill will be $4,650.

2. Digital printer (short run): 500 copies for $2.80 each or a print bill of $1,400, or 100 copies for $5.17 each and a print bill of $517. For more details, see The Self-Publishing Manual.

3. POD (single copies): May run $6 to $10 and are often bundled with other services. Print-On-Demand is a good option when a book has run its course, your inventory is exhausted and you still receive orders for a couple of copies a month. Rather than invest in inventory, you can have books made one-at-a-time as needed.

Hardcover:  Most books are manufactured with soft covers, called “perfect binding.” In traditional printing, hard or “case” binding runs about $1.00 extra per book. For digital production, the cost for case binding is $1.65 to $3.25 each, depending on the page count (thickness) of the book. Those prices include the hard covers and the dust jackets. Then there is typesetting which most of us do on our computers, book cover design and other pre-press expenses.

Well before and after the book is printed, it has to be promoted with book reviews, news releases and social media networking on Twitter, Google+, FB, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc. For a book like the one described here, you should budget about $3,000 to $5,000 to get started. A good portion of your budget will be spent on promoting the book after it is printed.

Why not recording your book on tape, disk and download?
You are not just an author or just a publisher or just a book promoter, you are an information provider. Some of your potential customers commute or travel a lot; they do not have time to read your book. But they do have time to listen to it.

You are an expert in your area. You must dispense your information in many ways: Books, magazine articles, audiotape, video tape, seminars, speeches, and private consulting. All of the messages are the same but the delivery method for each is different. Spoken-word recording is an efficient delivery medium. Use your book as a script and record it word for word.”

More tips for REAL self-publishers can be found in his books, his many books I must say.

Register your publishing business
To be found by other authors and potential customers, add your company to these publishing directories:

http://www.publishersglobal.com
http://www.dowse.com/e-book-publishers.html
http://207-171-168-158.amazon.com/kdpforums/index.jspa (forum)

Become a member of the Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Organization. They provide information, resources and opportunities for everyone involved in or interested in publishing, whether you are an author or small publisher.

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