I realized today that I have been writing about self-publishing without
\nsharing some of the key factors that went into my decision to self-publish
\nin the first place. Although I like breaking new ground, I am primarily
\ninspired by the chance to make money doing so. Pioneering for the sake
\nof getting there first does not pay the bills. Traditional publishing offers little or nothing for the first-time author. The new model of self-publishing is a lot more author-friendly.<\/p>\n
Writing is a creative act. Publishing is a business. To paraphrase Dan Poynter<\/a>, a publisher is the one who puts up the money and takes the risk.The publisher assembles the book for the printer, gets it printed, and then markets it, hoping to make back more money than has been spent to produce the book. In short, the publisher is the investor.<\/p>\n When you invest in something, you want a sure thing at the lowest possible cost, with a high rate of return, and you are prepared to cut your losses as soon as it looks like your investment is not going to fly.<\/p>\n This is why traditional publishers screen hundreds of thousands of Are you willing to invest $2000 – $4000 in your new book? If you are not, then why should a publisher be interested? <\/p>\n You must do your homework and determine that there is a market for I got started on this post by the excellent suggestion posed by Craig Paxson on part 9 of this series. He wrote:<\/p>\n You I investigated Lightning The Ingram distribution system seems to be too much on the order of I can get into Amazon.com directly and more importantly, I can get I am charting a newly opened path here and I expect to promote the I will be directly involved in all aspects of the marketing and The one thing you have to realize is that it is the author who If the book sells, it is you, the author, who accomplishes that. Why The book has to be interesting and it has to be publicized in order This is an area where you new writers may We’ll just have to see, won’t we?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I realized today that I have been writing about self-publishing without Writing is a creative act. Publishing is a business. To paraphrase Dan Poynter<\/a>, a publisher is the one who puts up the money and takes the risk.The publisher assembles the book for the printer, gets it printed, and then markets it, hoping to make back more money than has been spent to produce the book. In short, the publisher is the investor.<\/p>\n When you invest in something, you want a sure thing at the lowest possible cost, with a high rate of return, and you are prepared to cut your losses as soon as it looks like your investment is not going to fly.<\/p>\n
\nbooks every year, searching for those four or five that will sell
\nenough copies to keep them in business. As a new author, you have
\nalmost no chance of getting their attention, unless you know one of
\ntheir editors.<\/p>\n
\nyour book. Once you have done that, why go to the bother of trying to
\nconvince a publisher that you have a viable market? On the other hand,
\nif you are selling your book like gangbusters, you will probably
\nattract attention from a publisher who specializes in that particular
\nmarket.<\/p>\n\n
\nmight want to look at publishing through an on demand publisher like
\n1stBooks Library or Xlibris. They use a printer called Lightning Source
\n(I used to work there) that can print one book at a time and ship them
\nto any bookstore in the world (including Amazon.com!). It is a big
\nadvantage to have your books listed on Amazon and in the Ingram book
\nsystem (they are the company that supplies 80% of the bookstores in the
\nUSA). Plus, you don’t need to keep printing short runs and have
\ninventory on-hand to mail.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nSource and found they didn’t suit my needs at this time. They were much
\nmore expensive for 500 quantity print runs than the printers I will be
\nusing.<\/p>\n
\nthe traditional publishing tradition. They want a healthy discount, pay
\nvery slowly, will return books for credit months after the fact, and
\nwill be placing orders for the same books that they are returning. This
\nwas from publishers actually dealing with Ingram.<\/p>\n
\nmy books listed on Google where they are made available for download
\nand for purchase. <\/p>\n
\nbooks myself and with friends, then handle the fulfillment myself with
\nthe assistance of friends until we buckle under the traffic. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
\nsales cycle and expect to ship books within one business day of
\nreceiving payment via PayPal. If Dan Poynter is right, I should make
\n4-6 times as much on every sale as if I were going the traditional
\nroute. <\/p>\n
\npromotes and publicizes the book until it is selling well. Generally,
\nthe traditional publishing house puts it in a few ads with lots of its
\nother titles and calls it a day.<\/p>\n
\nnot fan the flames until the book is selling well and take the profits
\nyou deserve. At that point, if you have a runaway seller, you should
\nhave a much better bargaining position when a publisher or agent
\napproaches you.<\/p>\n
\nto sell at all. What happens after that is really a matter of selling
\nit at a price that people consider a fair value, and getting it out to
\nthem promptly when they order it. This is new territory for me, but I
\nwill let you know what I find out when I get there.<\/p>\n
\nbe able to achieve a stunning breakthrough. Getting a book out in 90
\ndays and keeping a healthy percentage of the selling price beats
\nwaiting for eighteen months and getting 50 cents on the average sale,
\nwith the royalties paid quarterly. <\/p>\n
\nsharing some of the key factors that went into my decision to self-publish
\nin the first place. Although I like breaking new ground, I am primarily
\ninspired by the chance to make money doing so. Pioneering for the sake
\nof getting there first does not pay the bills. Traditional publishing offers little or nothing for the first-time author. The new model of self-publishing is a lot more author-friendly.<\/p>\n