Category: Choosing a Publisher

Choosing a Publisher, Self-Publishing

Statistics Suggest Good News for the Self-Publishing Author

Bowker, the global leader in bibliographic information management, recently released 2007 book publishing statistics compiled from its Books In Print database. Based on figures from U.S. publishers, Bowker is projecting that U.S. title output  last year increased slightly from 2006 to almost 300,000 books. That’s over a quarter of a million books published in one year alone.

Here’s another interesting statistic, while traditional book publishing was basically flat last year, there was a staggering rise in the reported number of on-demand and short-run books to 134,773, pushing the grand total for projected 2007 U.S. book output to 411,422 books. In fact, Bowker has planned to separate this particular output from its traditional reporting and has begun tracking the On Demand industry segment separately.

What does this mean for you? To begin, your book may not stock in every bookstore. Or any bookstore. And it’s entirely possible that you may not want it to.

As a self-publishing author, these statistics undoubtedly suggest your sales opportunities will continue to grow and become more profitable. Sales are shifting from offline to online. More and more people are becoming comfortable with (and even accustomed to) shopping online. Selling books online is more cost-effective than selling through a typical bookstore, and that means more money in your pocket. It’s no coincidence that Amazon’s book sales numbers mirror the same increases on an annual bases. That’s good news.

It’s been said before on this blog, make sure your self-publishing choice lets you set your own retail price, royalty, and discount to take maximum advantage of shifting consumer trends.

Something to keep in mind as you wrap up your writing and begin the publishing process.

Have fun and keep writing

– Karl Schroeder 

Choosing a Publisher, Self-Publishing

Copywriting done right in Self-Publishing

Okay, copywrite is not actually a word. Copywriting is, and an equally important element in self-publishing your book as successfully as possible on the market.

Copywriting, as spelling would imply, has less to do with copying anything and more to do with writing. So what is copy? Copy in this case as a noun is, according to Merriam-Webster, “something considered printable or newsworthy.”

Copywriting by that definition is akin to marketing, and helps promote your book once published. It is perhaps most effectively implemented on your book’s back cover.

Studies show that a book has around 8 seconds to convince the reader to buy it. 3 seconds for the cover image to captivate them and 5 seconds for the back cover copy to sell them on the contents. The fact is most authors don’t know how to write sales copy. Sales copy is an entirely different animal, after all. A skill honed by advertisers and marketing folks.

A handful of quality self-publishers offer those services. Look for that option when choosing yours.

Have fun and keep writing (just not copy).

-Karl Schroeder

Book Promotion, Choosing a Publisher

Quality and Control in Self-Publishing

A very informative article was recently published outlining one author’s success self-publishing over traditional publishing, most notably in terms of higher net royalties on book sales. In fact, the case study recorded significantly higher royalties on a lower quantity of book sales along that self-publishing route.

The book pricing advantages of self publishing is no stranger to this blog, nor the increasingly successful population of authors who follow that path. But this particular article also mentioned that writers should never have to pay for publishing upfront.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen authors who have been pulled in by that concept, but end up publishing an often poorly produced book sold back to them at highly marked-up costs. (Publishers are businesses and need to make money, after all.) So that model really only puts poorly produced books right back in the hands of authors, not readers.

The successful alternative does involve upfront publishing fees, which opens a direct contract between authors and publishers including quality, professional production on books that are competitively sold in the marketplace, where readers buy books. Make sure your self-publishing choice includes those things like cover design, interior formatting, and full distribution. Also, as I’ve mentioned before – and the significance here is worth the redundancy – make sure your publisher offers pricing flexibility (control) and 100% royalties on book sales.

I hope that helps. Have fun and keep writing…

Karl Schroeder

Book Promotion, Choosing a Publisher, Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing simplifying the Traditional Paradigm

We’ve discussed previously the new, revolutionizing self-publishing model and how it is quickly changing the industry.

As one industry expert recently noted, “The traditional model for print publishing is broken.” He is right, it seems as though everyone has gotten a hand in the process between penning and publishing: agents, editors, and bookstores. That process not only bogs the system, it takes rights and royalties from authors.

Sure there are advantages there coming in the form of editors, distributors, and bookstores. A good self-publisher will include all of those details, but keep the author in the driver’s seat. What does that accomplish? It keeps authors one step closer to their prospective reader, and at the top of the royalty food chain.

Look for a self publisher that offers an e-book option as well as a quality published trade paperback and hardback option – that’s authors touching readers on every level. What author could ask for more?

Have fun. Keep writing.

Sincerely,

Karl Schroeder

Choosing a Publisher

Vanity Verses Self-Publishing

The self-publishing author community is becoming increasingly educated in options available, naturally comes in part as the by-product of approaching sound resources and asking good questions.

One question I do see stumbling around from time to time is some form of this, “Isn’t self-publishing the same as Vanity publishing.”

The answer: not really at all…

Vanity Presses often very dubiously attempt to present themselves as small presses, similar to ‘traditional’ publishers. They do this by claiming to be selective in terms of content. But those rejection rates are very low – generally reserved only for those manuscripts containing things like libel or pornography. But vanity presses do not otherwise screen for quality. They publish anyone who can pay, but don’t disclose that until well into the publishing process. Often, those fees are hidden in obscure production services unrelated to design, materials, or binding. That is where these operations ultimately make their money – charging authors book printing costs only to sell right back to authors.

The good news is that quality self-publishers are available with open, upfront, book production, distribution, and marketing options. And once books are professionally published copies are available where readers actually buy books. Unlimited printed copies are availabe for retailers and wholesalers on-demand, without additional out-of-pocket printing costs.

Keep writing.

– Karl