Writing and Publishing News from

Good morning everyone. Today’s blog post is courtesy of Sue Collier. See her bio below.

You’ve written your manuscript and you’ve decided that self-publishing is your best option for getting into print. What’s your next step?

A Google search on “self-publishing” or “POD self-publishing” will bring up ads and websites for companies like iUniverse, AuthorHouse, Trafford, Xlibris, and Outskirts Press. Unfortunately, not one of those companies will enable you to actually “self” publish. All are vanity presses masquerading as self-publishers. Most serious self-publishers who plan to make a profit should steer clear. Why?

The main reason is that these companies are simply a “middleman” between you and the print-on-demand printer they use (usually Lightning Source). These companies mark up their printing costs, then pay you a small percentage of sales (they call it a “royalty). This also usually inflates the price of the book, often so much so it’s impossible to be competitive with other books in the same genre.
Something else most authors don’t realize—often until it’s too late—is that these companies are the publisher of record on their books. Hence, the books are not self-published. And once you’ve got the Outskirts Press—or others of their ilk—imprint on your book, it’s like the kiss of death in the publishing world. The books are generally expected to be poorly edited and are usually badly designed. Sales are dismal—less than 50 copies might be sold (and usually those are sold to the author).

To truly self-publish and to make the most profit from your book, you need to be the publisher of record. You can do that by buying your own block of ISBN (International Standard Book Number) from Bowker. Having your own ISBNs now makes it possible for you to go to a POD (or offset) printer directly—no middleman required. You’ll need to start up a publishing company—not nearly as complicated as it sounds—because Bowker (as well as Lightning Source—more on that later) works with publishers not authors.

Once you’ve got your publishing company name and ISBNs, then what? Your best bet is to find professionals to help you with the book production process so you can take the book to a printer yourself. Ask around to other authors who have truly self-published to see who they’ve used. You’ll definitely want to hire an editor to edit your book and a graphic artist to design your book cover; skimping on these two areas may mean a significantly lower quality book. Outfits such as Outskirts, AuthorHouse, and the like offer these services, but they are almost always poorly done. Books are often full of errors and covers tend to be your choice of a picture and a font (so another book could have your exact same cover with a different title). These books are pretty much unmarketable; even worse, they may put the author’s reputation at risk.

Once your book is ready for print (either ebook or paper book) I recommend either CreateSpace (owned by Amazon.com) or Lightning Source (owned by wholesale giant Ingram). Many self-publishers think they need to work with an outfit such as Lulu or Fast Pencil in order to get their books printed digitally (POD); that’s not true. Both CreateSpace and Lightning Source work directly with self-publishers—no middleman required. A 200-page book would cost $9.30 to manufacture at Fast Pencil; the same book costs only $3.50 at Lightning Source. Why spend almost $6 more per book?
I’ll be self-publishing Jump Start Your Books Sales, 2nd Edition, this summer, and my plan is to go to Lightning Source. Although they have higher setup fees than CreateSpace, they offer better distribution to the trade. If you only want to sell your books through Amazon and you plan to release just one title, CreateSpace might be your best bet.

Educate yourself on exactly what you are getting into before you sign any dotted lines. Make sure you understand the difference between subsidy publishing and true self-publishing before deciding on your best way to get your book into print.

Self-publishing expert SUE COLLIER is coauthor of The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing,5th Edition (Writer’s Digest Books, 2010) and the forthcoming Jump Start Your Books Sales, 2nd Edition (Communication Creativity, 2011). She has been working with authors and small presses for nearly two decades, providing writing, editing, production, and promotions work for hundreds of book projects. Visit her self-publishing blog at Self-Publishing Resources.

Today we’re continuing with the seven common mistakes authors make. Here are the last four.

4: Many authors don’t understand publishing terms. Authors will say to me, “I’m self-publishing with ABC Publishing Company.” What they are actually doing is going with a pay-to-publish company. What are your primary publishing options?

Royalty Publisher
A traditional royalty publisher puts up the money for the production of your book and pays you royalties on books sold. These publishers are generally very selective in the books they publish and the authors they sign.

Self-Publishing
Self-publishing means that you establish a publishing company (get a fictitious business name, purchase your own block of ISBNs, etc.). You get your book ready for publication, you hire a printing company, you are responsible for distribution and shipping and you reap all of the profits.

Pay-to-Publish Company
You pay the company to produce your book. Most of these companies will accept any manuscript—they are not generally discriminating. They each enter the publishing arena with very different publishing contracts. It pays to do plenty of research so you know exactly what you’re signing.

5: Newby authors don’t generally solicit advice from professionals until it is too late. Do NOT sign a contract with any publisher or purveyor of publishing services without hiring a literary or intellectual properties attorney. This should go without saying, yet thousands of authors each year bypass this important step.

I also recommend that inexperienced authors talk to other authors who have used the services they are considering. Contact organizations such as SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) http://www.spawn.org Ask questions.

6: Uninformed authors blindly sign up for unnecessary services. Some pay-to-publish companies state that they will get your books into bookstore databases and provide a return policy on your books for a fee of around $700-$800.

I have two things to say about that. First, you can get your books listed in bookstore databases nationwide for free. All you have to do is fill out an Advance Book Information (ABI) form. And the listing in Books In Print is free.

Secondly, the return policy that some publishing services are selling their authors is, in my opinion, a huge waste of money. This policy is no more a guarantee that booksellers will carry your book than a nickel guarantees the purchase of a candy bar.

7: Authors neglect to hire an editor.
Many authors, by the time they complete their manuscripts and self-edit it, are more than ready to get it published. Some of them don’t feel they have the money to spend on a professional editor. Some expect to get a good enough editing job through their pay-to-publish company. Still others believe that they don’t need to hire an editor because traditional publishers have editors on staff.

One of the biggest mistakes a hopeful author can make is neglecting to hire a professional editor before approaching publishers of any type. News flash: publishers want to see professionally edited manuscripts and so, by the way, do readers.

If you want to enter into the world of publishing, learn something about the business. Study your options and the ramifications of your choices. Define your responsibilities as a published author. You may still make a few mistakes along the way—we all do, but knowledge will definitely save you money and heartache.

Learn more about Patricia Fry here:
http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

Over the next two days, I’m going to list 7 mistakes that many new authors make—mistakes that can cost you large sums of money and dramatically diminish your opportunity for publishing success

1: Inexperienced authors write a book as the first step. Why is this considered a mistake? If you aspire to have your book published and widely distributed, this may be the wrong approach. Whether you’re writing a how-to book, biography, self-help, romance novel, children’s story, mystery, memoir or dictionary, write a book proposal first.

In the process of writing a book proposal, you will:
• Learn if you have a viable book at all.
• Discover whether there is a market for this book.
• Determine your target audience.
• Ascertain the best way to promote your book.
• Be prepared to establish your platform.

Write a book proposal as a first step and you’re more apt to write the right book for the right audience. How better to snag a traditional royalty publisher than with a promising project?

2: Eager new authors often go with the first publishing opportunity they stumble across. You don’t make other business decisions this quickly. You research the possibilities and study your options. Many authors forget that publishing is a business. We get so attached to our projects and so eager to see our books in print that we act emotionally rather than logically.

Learn the difference between a traditional royalty publisher and a pay-to-publish service. You’ll find hundreds of traditional royalty publishers listed in Writer’s Market (available in the reference section of your library or for sale for about $30 in most bookstores. A new edition comes out each September). Read Mark Levine’s “The Fine Print of Self-Publishing,” to discover which pay-to-publish services are legit. (He has just come out with a newly revised edition. Get the ebook version FREE when joining SPAWN.) http://www.spawn.org

Visit bookstores in search of books like yours. Find out who published these books and contact those publishers.

As an author, you have many options. Research them, understand them and scrutinize them in order to choose the one that is right for your project.

3: New authors believe that they don’t have a chance with a traditional royalty publisher. This is simply not true. If you have a viable project, you arm yourself with knowledge and you approach the publisher in a professional manner, you have a definite chance of landing a traditional royalty publisher. There were over a million books published in 2009 and 288,355 of them were produced by traditional publishers.

For more about publishing and book marketing and for online courses in the topics you need help with, visit http://www.matilijapress.com

If you are seeking editorial or consulting services, visit http://www.patriciafry.com

Should you self-publish, go with a pay-to-publish company or sign with a traditional royalty publisher? Would you be better off to produce a print book or an ebook? Will you hire a print-on-demand printer or find someone who still does offset printing? Shall you have your book printed in the US or overseas? Is your book worth producing at all?

There are a lot of considerations when you decide that you’d like to publish the manuscript you’ve been working on all these months (or years). How do you decide which roads to take—which choices to make?

Authors often come to me in a confused state—having just completed the writing on their masterpiece in the calm and comfort of their homes. When they start to look into the task of publishing, it’s like opening their front door and finding major chaos raging outside their peaceful world. Everything has changed. It’s all confusing. They don’t know which direction to go or who to follow.

Authors often ask me, “Which is the best publishing option?” I tell them that it depends on the author and it depends on the project. If you are in such a quandary, maybe this will help.

1: If you are writing your memoirs or the story reflecting your uncle’s military experiences or your ancestors’ migration to Texas, for example, it would probably be of interest to a small circle of people—family and close friends. In this case, you might hire a credible pay-to-publish company to produce twenty-five or fifty copies to handout. Depending on the size of the book, you might have it copied and saddle-stitched or spiral bound at a local business center. (Read Mark Levine’s book, The Fine Print of Self-Publishing before choosing a pay-to-publish company.)

If you believe you have a real gem of a story in the caliber of the rare memoir that has hit the big-time, show your book around and see if you can excite a publisher about it. If publication and widespread distribution is your goal, then turn your manuscript over to a good book editor before you approach a publisher. Listen to what he or she says about the quality of your writing and, if need be, let them help you to improve it.

2: If you’ve done your homework and you know you have a good book that will fill a niche or that is in a popular genre, well-written and could attract a large audience, hire a good book editor and start studying the publishing industry to learn the best way to approach it with your amazing manuscript. Spend some in this study before launching out with your book.

3: If you are a strong marketer, you are familiar with your audience and have ideas for promoting your book, you might want to establish your own publishing company and manage the project on your own. If you would like the assistance of a professional in the business, then consider signing with an appropriate publisher. Remember, however, that it is still up to you to promote your book even if you land a major publisher.

Not every publishing option is for every author. And I’ve known authors who have made some bad decisions with regard to their book projects. What are some of the most common mistakes?

• An author will go with the first pay-to-publish company who expresses an interest in his book without considering his options—or even discovering what his options are.

• Authors start seeking publication before their book has been professionally edited.

• Authors do not understand enough about the publishing industry to make good choices.

• An author will write the wrong book for the wrong audience.

• Authors often have unrealistic expectations—again, due to the fact that they don’t take time to learn something about the publishing industry. They treat publishing as if it is an extension of their writing and not the serious business that it is.

Most of these authors fail. Don’t be one of them. There are numerous books and sites with information to help you learn more about the publishing industry and how to navigate it with your amazing project. Here are three sites with tons of resources and opportunities for new authors:

http://www.spawn.org
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

You’ve heard it before, “writing is a creative endeavor and publishing is a business.” While you must engage your right brain during the writing process, publishing takes left-brain power. Most new authors understand this—or think they do—until they finish their manuscripts and are faced with the realities of publishing.

Many authors spend about two hours studying the publishing industry. They might attend a local writers’ group meeting and listen to a speaker who describes the publishing process. The speaker’s experience sounds rather daunting, so the author opts for an easier path. Then the author turns on his computer, uses “publishing” or “get published” as keywords and promptly locates a list of publishers eager to publish his manuscript (sight unseen). You know the rest of the story—his publishing path is littered with disappointments, misunderstandings and a failed book.

What went wrong? He called upon their creativity while writing the book, but he neglected to use necessary strategy when it came to publishing.

You use strategy when playing a sport or a card game. You strategize in the course of your job. You use strategy when dealing with people—even, sometimes, those close to you. Strategy even comes in handy when you are training a pet, teaching a skill, putting on your makeup, paying bills, decorating a room or planning your vacation. Why, then, do you approach publishing with little knowledge using a scattershot method? Why do you pay large sums of money to the first “publisher” that expresses an interest in your project and then sorely neglect to follow-through with your responsibilities as a published author? I know why. It’s because you enter the publishing industry with little knowledge and unrealistic expectations.

It’s true, most new authors learn about publishing the hard way. They take a crash course in publishing by diving right in without a life preserver. (A life preserver being a synonym for knowledge, of course.) Sure, some of these authors survive the treacherous waters, but most do not.

So what is a better approach? I say that an author, once he has finished his book and he wants to be published, should lighten up on creativity and begin to apply strategies. The artist with a coffee table book, the homemaker with a book of recipes, the retired school teacher with a children’s book, the minister with a Christian novel, the grandmother with a young adult fantasy, the florist with a gardening book—each and every one of them, if they want to succeed as a published author—MUST enter into the world of publishing armed with knowledge.

Study the publishing industry—learn what your options are, the possible consequences of your choices and your responsibilities as a published author. Once you have a better understanding of the publishing industry, then start strategizing.

• What are your short-term/long-term goals related to your project?

• What can you bring to the table in order to meet your goals?

• How far are you willing to stretch to create the level of success you desire?

• Based on your responses to the above, what is the best publishing option for you and your project?

There is a whole lot more that goes into creating a successful book than most new authors can even imagine. What most authors learn much too late is that the level of success they experience is directly related to the author. I have to tell you that there is no easy road to publishing success. And the strategies you used to produce and market one book might not work for another. But then, once you take the time to really study the publishing industry, you will begin to understand that.

FREE Ebook
Here’s an ebook that will definitely help you inch your way toward success with your book project. Download your FREE copy of, 50 Reasons Why You Should Publish Your Book.
http://www.patriciafry.com

Article-Writing Course Sign-Up
It’s not too late to sign up for my online article-writing course. It started last Tuesday. The second lesson and assignment will be sent to students Tuesday February 22. If you want to learn how to supplement your income through article-writing or you would like to promote your book through articles, sign up for this 6-week course ($125). Learn from someone who supported herself through article-writing for 25 years and who currently promotes her books through articles for appropriate publications.
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_magarticles.htm

It is good to have a plan, when you decide to write a book. All experts recommend that you enter into the treacherous publishing waters prepared—armed with knowledge and having decided on a direction. However, many authors, once they choose a course, become unmovable, no matter what they encounter along the way.

While it is a good thing to be tenacious and persistent in your pursuit for publishing success, it is also wise to change direction when appropriate—to be open to opportunities that arise.

A good idea can turn bad. In other words, what was the right choice in the beginning of your publishing pursuit may not be the way to continue. I want you to know that it is okay to make changes—to take another fork in the road.

For example, you may have chosen the pay-to-publish route the first time around. You studied your options and decided upon a particular company in order to get your book out there. You’ve learned a lot while attempting to position your book among the others in your genre and yourself as an expert. But you feel that you’ve gone just about as far as you can with this company. It is okay (and probably a good idea) to make a change.

Perhaps you’ve done so well with your book through your own efforts that you could interest a traditional publisher in taking it over. Or maybe you would like more control over your project and are contemplating self-publishing. Your book might be conducive to ebook status. Why not arrange to have it produced for the Kindle and some of the other more popular ebook devices? It’s okay. It’s your book. As an author, you should remain fluid with your project.

If your book is at the mercy of a pay-to-publish company only and you find it is too costly to try to make sales to bookstores or to work with distributors, you must step out of the shadows and take charge. It is important that you make yourself aware of the possibilities for your book; that you know what you can do in order to take it to the next step; and that you have the courage to do so.

Stay with your original vision for your first book and you may never see it fly as you had hoped. Publishing is ever-changing and you, as an author, must be willing to stretch and bend along with the industry.

Some hopeful authors are so inflexible that they never get their books out to the public at all. One critical evaluation from an editor, one negative comment from a professional who professes that publishing is hard work and/or one rejection letter can kill that wonderful writing spirit. And this is such a shame.

If you are working on a book, now is the time to prepare for what’s ahead. First and foremost, study the publishing industry. Learn what it involves, what your options are, the possible consequences of your choices and your responsibilities as a published author. Start by reading, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book (on sale now at http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html.

If you have a published book that isn’t selling as well as you had hoped, start opening your mind to other options and opportunities. Study this book. Network with other authors. Attend writers/authors conferences and lectures. Take classes. And don’t be afraid to take your book to the next level.

Whatever you decide to do next, make sure that you are moving forward and not stagnating. Publishing is not static and you shouldn’t be, either.

One thing you can do for yourself and your book is to sign up for Patricia Fry’s online Article-Writing course and learn how to promote your book through magazine articles. Or maybe you want to learn how to supplement your income through article work. This course starts this week. It is not too late to join in: http://www.matilijapress.com/course_magarticles.htm

If you need help promoting your book, sign up for Patricia’s Book Promotion course.
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm.

http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com