You’ve been working diligently for months on your amazing manuscript. Finally, you’re nearing the finish line. The book is almost completed. Now what? How will you go about getting it published?
I make sure that my editing clients know their options early on. You should, too. They are:
1: You can approach a traditional royalty publisher. There are more than the famous big 6 publishers and their subsidiaries. There are actually hundreds of smaller traditional royalty publishers seeking good projects. And many of them prefer to work without the involvement of an agent.
The traditional publisher chooses book projects and authors that he wants to invest in. His bottom line goes beyond whether or not your book is well-written. He is interested in making a profit and he needs to know that you can and will participate in making that happen.
You do not pay the traditional publisher. He puts up the money to produce your book and he pays you usually 7 to 15 percent royalties on books sold. When you contract with a publisher, you become part of a team. He will do some promotion, but it is your responsibility to use whatever celebrity, credibility, creativity, contacts and/or skills you have to promote and market your book.
2: You can self-publish. Self-publishing means that you set up your own publishing company. You design the book and cover (or hire someone to do it). You choose a printing company and pay for printing, the ISBN, the bar code, etc. You make all of the decisions, pay all the bills and reap all of the profits. You are also totally responsible for promoting your book. It could cost anywhere from $3,000 to $25,000 to produce a book.
3: You can create an ebook. An ebook or even a comb bound or saddle stitched hard copy produced at a business center might be a good way to test the waters with your amazing book. If you get a lot of positive feedback from reviewers, booksellers and other strangers, it might be worthwhile to go ahead and approach publishers or to invest in your project and self-publish.
4: You can go with a fee-based, POD, “self-publishing” company, such as AuthorHouse, iUniverse, BookPros, Infinity, etc. You pay their fees and get any variety of services. Most authors today use these companies to produce their books and more and more of them are walking away extremely disappointed, disillusioned and broke. This is not necessarily because the company ran a scam. It is because the author did not take the time to truly learn about the publishing industry, his options, the possible consequences of his choices and his responsibilities as a published author.
Secondly, few authors actually understand the contract they signed. They read, for example, “We will make your book available to booksellers nationwide.” And they interpret it to mean that their book will be in major bookstores nationwide. No! This simply means that if a bookseller comes along and asks for a book like this one, the “self-publishing” company will tell them about yours. Believe me, this is NOT going to happen.
Where the big problem comes in, even with the most reputable “self-publishing” company, is that the book costs so much to produce that the author goes in the hole if he wants to make an agreement with a bookseller. With shipping charges on top of the purchase price for his books, he can’t even afford to sell books at book fairs, for example. There is a fee for a booth, you know.
Sign with a “self-publishing” company only after studying the publishing industry so you understand how things work and after having a copyright or intellectual properties attorney explain the contract to you. And then work with YOUR editor and publishing consultant to make sure that your manuscript is in perfect publishing shape before signing any contract.
Whether your manuscript is horribly flawed or professionally edited, the publisher will recommend that their editorial staff edit your manuscript. Most authors say that the “editing” service amounts to nothing more than a quick proofreading.
Read more about your publishing options and the pros and cons of each in The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html You’ll also learn more about the publishing industry and how it works. And we all know how important education is.
Contact me for a free editorial evaluation of the first 25 pages of your book. PLFry620@yahoo.com.