Choosing a Publisher

Pricing Advantages in Self-publishing

Last week we discussed book pricing among the biggest advantages in self-publishing.  Book pricing can actually be more complicated that it would appear on the outset, and worth discussing in a bit more length.  Let’s start with trade discount.

The “trade discount” is the percentage of your retail price that you offer to the publishing trade for distributing your book to retailers. The “publishing trade” consists of wholesalers, distributors, and retailers—not your publisher. Everyone involved with your book after the publisher all the way to the reader falls into the “publishing trade” circle, and they all take a piece of the trade discount.

Obviously, the larger the trade discount, the more money there is to split up among the parties involved. Standard trade discounts range from 50% – 70%.

Most publishing companies do not offer any information about their trade discounting policies up-front, nor do they give the author any say in the matter.

Look for a publisher that offers authors the flexibility of setting your trade discount from 0% – 55%. A 55% trade discount will result in an industry standard 40% retail margin, which is what a typical book retailer seeks when considering whether or not to order a book. So in addition to availability on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble’s website, Borders.com, and the many other sales channels—your book can have the retail margin that bookstores and chains are looking for.

 

Cheers!

 

Karl Schroeder

Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Self Published Book Review of the Week: Turkey’s Treat

Turkey’s Treat

by Marie Sanderlin Metroke

This self-published book was recently reviewed by Midwest Book Review:

“The Turkey’s Treat” is a great holiday paperback tale that teaches young Jeff a new definition of Christmas dinner. Humorous illustrations impel each page turn through the end, which has a few unexpected twists and turns. A fine way to learn about respectfulness for others and the true underlying meaning of a winter holiday, “The Turkey’s Treat” will be a hit with readers age 6 and up.

The Turkey’s Treat
Marie Sanderlin Metroke, author
Victor Guiza, illustrator
Outskirts Press, Inc.
9781432733247, $9.95, www.amazon.com

For more information or to order the book, visit the author’s webpage: www.outskirtspress.com/MarieMetroke


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Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Self Published Book Review of the Week: Embellish

Embellish

by R.L. Sloan

This self-published book was recently reviewed by Reader Views:

This book is a fun addition to the vampire romance novels in circulation. The book begins with a frightening description of a distressing event in the main character Solis Burkes’ life. This event would determine the rest of her life. Her past is known by her family and a secret admirer. The premise is that a group of very evil people have begun to take control of the town and threaten to influence everyone with their dark magic and voodoo. Solis Burkes decides that she will exact revenge on these evil people. She joins forces with a man who has been watching over her for many years. She wants revenge, and she gets it. Her family and friends are all in danger with her involvement in revenge against the evil doers. Solis must make a decision to save her family and friends or continue with her revenge.

Overall, this is a great book and the most unique part is the addition of such a young character’s voice. She is funny and brave, and her inner thoughts are fun to read. I thought the author did a good job capturing a young teen’s voice. For example, Sloan writes: “I once again slammed the phone down as hard as I could. It felt good to do that! It might have been childish for me to do, but I was beginning to feel a newfound confidence that was starting to make me feel alive. It made me want to start regarding myself with some value, and not be pushed around or taken for granted anymore.” The characters are very interesting to read about, a protective grandmother, a nice teen with a big heart and a sad past, and a secret admirer, are all well developed. It is a very good read, both fast-paced and thrilling.

I think anyone would enjoy this book, especially if you like romance and the paranormal. It is the first book in a series, but is very worthwhile to read. R. L. Sloan is a good writer; she captures a youthful voice perfectly and she makes it fun to read about Solis and find out what will happen to her next. The dialogue between the characters is very interesting because she uses New Orleans colloquialisms and the characters’ names are very unique, for example Childress, Olvignia, and Erland. “Embellish” is simply a good book, and hopefully the sequel will come out soon!

For more information or to order the book, visit the author’s webpage: www.outskirtspress.com/Embellish

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Self-Publishing Advice: Writing for your Market

The Book Doctor chimes in…

Q: I’ve written a short story [synopsis deleted]. I had three people–one fellow writer and two avid readers who are not writers–read this story and provide feedback. They all love the story, except each one told me that she doesn’t like the ending. Each offered suggestions for alternative endings that range from fairy tale to Barney the Dinosaur endings. (I love you; you love me; oh, how happy we will be.)

I ended it the way I did because it made more sense to me. [The protagonist] grew up a little and learned that sometimes it’s okay to assert himself, even if it brings conflict. Our hero was content with the way the story ended.

I know I’m writing for a market, and I want my stories to entertain and satisfy readers. But I don’t feel right ending a story in a way that I personally think is a cheesy cliché. Should I write something I wouldn’t read myself, just because others like it? Can I even trust the response of such a small sample of readers, even though their independent feedback concerning the ending is resounding and consistent? I know this is a terribly subjective question, but I’d like to know what you would do.

A: You may be asking the wrong person. To be able to make a living writing, I have made it my motto that “I’ll write anything for money.” As a result I have written and/or edited many things that did not reflect my personal opinions.

Examine your motives. If indeed you are writing to sell your work, you do have to consider the market, and if you consider the market–your focus group sounds like a small but good specimen–you will change the ending to suit the market. If you write for yourself without hope of selling your work, you can write anything you want, including gibberish, and it won’t matter. In that case, you can make the ending as unpleasing to the public as you wish, because in reality the public will probably never see it.

You are the god who created your story. You can control the outcome, depending upon your goals. As you know, the endings of many movies have been changed when focus groups did not like the first ending. As a result, some movies have become blockbusters that may have otherwise bombed, if the ending had not changed.



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Bobbie Christmas, book doctor, author of Write In Style (Union Square Publishing), and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more “Ask the Book Doctor”