Tag: POD

An interesting article published not long ago profiles one author’s success self-publishing over more traditional publishing models, most notably in terms of higher net royalties on book sales. In fact, the case study recorded significantly higher royalties on a relatively low quantity of book sales.

The book pricing advantages of self-publishing is no stranger to this blog, nor the increasingly successful population of authors who follow that path. While book pricing has a notable effect on your book sales and marketing efforts, your pricing decisions fall into the production (or even planning) stage.

Also interesting, this particular article also mentioned that writers should never have to pay for publishing upfront.

Compelling isn’t it? I’ve worked with many authors who have been pulled in by that concept, but in the end find themselves a book of average production quality sold back to them at highly marked-up costs which would find difficulty competing in any retail market.

Free publishing mirrors the traditional model, and its easy to find validation in your writing through an organization that would publish material for free.

But…

Publishers are businesses and need to make money too, after all. Often this free publishing model really only puts self-designed books right back in the hands of its author, not readers.

One 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 previously mentioned– and the significance here is worth the redundancy – make sure your publisher offers pricing flexibility (control) and 100% royalties on book sales.

Ah, but you have judged many a book by its cover, and will again. So, too, will readers considering purchasing your book whether in the brick & mortar store or online at sites like Amazon. This is a great opportunity for self-publishing authors.

We discussed recently the important of well written sales copy for your book’s back cover. Let’s flip it around. Literally. Your book’s cover is one of the singe most important elements in generating sales, especially online and before reader interest grows virally.

A book has around 3 seconds to gain a reader’s or buyer’s interest. That dynamic is becoming increasingly more important as the number of books published each year continues its staggering growth. Quality, custom cover design should be a top priority for any self-publishing author. Many self publishing services actually require authors to submit or create their own designs from generic templates. Your writing most likely didn’t come from a template, and neither should your cover. And the reality is, many writers are not necessarily experienced designers. When research publishing options for your book, make sure yours offers the custom cover design options that give your book the strongest head-start possible in finding reader’s hands.
Then, begin recruiting judges.