Writing and Publishing News

This is the continuation of the 7 Common Mistakes Authors Make

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

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) and ask questions. http://www.spawn.org

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. Or they will get your book in Amazon.

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. Your book will be listed in Books in Print (BIP). This is one database that bookstores use to order books. If a customer asks for your book and it is listed in Books in Print, the bookstore can order it for that customer. And the listing in BIP is free. You can also arrange for your book to be sold through Amazon.

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, they 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.

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.

Questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

It happens way too frequently. I’ll meet a disgruntled, disillusioned, almost bankrupt author who admits to making most of the mistakes listed below. He might have a wonderful book in hand, but little understanding of the publishing industry and even less marketing savvy. Typically, they learn too late that the time to ask questions and study options is BEFORE they begin to make publishing decisions.

First-time authors are eager to see their books in print. I know this. I’ve been there and I’ve made mistakes. As authors, we work long and hard on our projects. The last thing we want to deal with after finishing a manuscript is the learning curve. Rather than spend weeks, months or years searching for a publishing opportunity, we’d rather sign with the first “publisher” who extends a friendly hand.

I’m on a mission, folks—a mission to help hopeful authors become more well educated and informed about this industry so they will make more appropriate choices on behalf of their publishing projects.

Following are 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 company. 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).

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.

Find publishers who produce books like yours. Study their Submission Guidelines. Follow these guidelines in approaching them with your project. If they request a query letter first, do NOT send your complete manuscript. If you don’t understand what goes into a query letter, study books and articles about writing a query letter.

There are hundreds of small to medium-sized publishers eager for good, marketable books. For example, everyone knows that poetry books are a hard sell. Yet, the 2010 edition of the Writer’s Market lists over 40 traditional royalty publishers who publish books of poetry. There are at least 125 publishers of mysteries and about the same number who produce historical novels. There are over 200 traditional royalty publishers that publish biographies and more than 175 who produce children’s books. Encouraging, isn’t it?

I’ll post the remaining four publishing mistakes in tomorrow’s blog. In the meantime, I hope you will take the time to digest the material here and please ask any questions you might have PLFry620@yahoo.com

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

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.