Are you headed down the pay-to-publish path—or in your language, the self-publishing path? In other words, do you plan to pay one of the 100 or so POD publishing companies to produce your book? It seems like a simple way to become a published author, doesn’t it? You just plunk down some money, hand over your precious manuscript and they do the rest. Their contract indicates that they will edit, design, get the bar code, issue an ISBN and print the book. For additional fees, they’ll also promote it.
You’ve probably done quite a bit of research by now. You’ve read a lot of pros and cons about these companies. You may have read Mark Levine’s book, The Fine Print of Self-Publishing and understand that not all of these outfits are rated the same. You feel that you’ve chosen the right company.
But are you aware of your responsibility in all of this? Has anyone told you that you had better put yourself in charge of quality control and make sure that you hand over a manuscript that is professionally/flawlessly edited (most people say their editing services amount to a quick proofing), that you had better present the company with a pristine layout package (they often will print it exactly like you give it to them) and that you are responsible for promoting your book?
Someone said just the other day that when you become an author, you’d better consider that you’ve gone into business. Even if you go with a pay-to-publish company or you land a traditional royalty publisher, you are responsible for promoting your book. And book promotion should be approached with a strong business sense. The author must develop his/her own marketing campaign.
I still meet authors every day who either didn’t know or didn’t believe that they needed a business head in order to enter into the competitive publishing field. Those who refuse to adopt that business sense, will fail to meet most of their publishing/marketing goals.
I’m not saying that you need to get a degree in business in order to publish your book of poetry. But you’d better take the time to learn something about the publishing industry, your options and your responsibility as a published author BEFORE diving in.
Step one: read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
Step two: Join SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network)
http://www.spawn.org
Step Three: Get your manuscript professionally edited. Consider my services:
http://www.matilijapress.com/consulting.html
Anytime—you can contact me with your questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com