Writing and publishing a book seem to be the things to do these days—in order to establish credibility, share your truths, make a statement or impress your friends. It looks rather easy to accomplish. After all, your real estate agent has done it, the mom down the street has done it and a couple of people you know at the gym have done it, too. Why can’t you produce the novel that’s in your head, the story of your childhood trauma, a book related to your line of work or a book of poetry?
All you have to do is write it and get someone to publish it. What’s so difficult about that?
But what do you know about publishing, really? If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, if you belong to SPAWN and you have been participating in our discussion group, reading our two monthly newsletters and pursuing some of the many resources we offer and if you have been reading the books that I and other professionals have produced on publishing, you may be prepared to produce a book. If you are uninformed, naive and closed-minded, however, you need to stop your forward motion on your book project and take time to become more informed.
Think about some of the other important things you’ve done in your lifetime. Did you establish a business, get married, have children, buy a home or choose your career on a whim or did you put some thought and study into these things before diving in? If you didn’t, how did it work for you?
Publishing is a seriously competitive business. Did you know that:
1: Over three-quarters of the books produced sell fewer than 100 copies total? (This could include those books by your neighbor, real estate agent and those people at the gym.)
2: There are three main publishing options and not every option is right for every author and every book.
3: There are more than the major publishers. There are hundreds of small to medium-size traditional royalty publishers eager for a good book project.
4: Self-publishing means to establish your own publishing company. If you pay a company to produce your book, this is considered pay-to-publish.
5: Each pay-to-publish company has their own contract and some of them are NOT in the author’s best interest. ALWAYS check the reputation of a pay-to-publish company before getting involved.
6: Writing the book and getting it published are easy compared to what comes next—book promotion. No matter what publishing option you choose, it is up to the author to promote his or her book.
7: Most of the books who fail in the marketplace come from pay-to-publish companies
For more about the world of publishing and book promotion, stay tuned to this blog. Also read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book—on sale now at: http://www.matilijapress.com
For more about SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) go to http://www.spawn.org
Contact me with your questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com