Tag: Self-Publishing

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More Writing on the Road to Self-Publishing

We’ve been discussing the benefits of the Internet in writing and self publishing, and even promoting your book as Kelly mentioned on Monday.

The fact is, the Internet appeals to instant gratification—in a good way. There is something empowering about being able to compose an original story, or the start of a new novel, and upload it for a virtually unlimited audience to see within minutes.

It is important to play that card smartly though. Here are some notes for consideration.

Be sure to upload your writing in an appropriate forum, preferably in a place where it will provide long-term promotion assistance down the road and where you trust the people to provide worthwhile feedback, rather than pilfering your ideas for their own.

Writing online is no easier than writing offline. In fact, it may seem harder at first. But trust me; the extra effort is worth it later on.

If you are seeking instant feedback on your writing from other people, I would suggest participating in online writing groups and forums. Yahoo offers “Groups” specific to a wide array of writing subjects. You can access the Groups section by going to the Yahoo main page at http://www.yahoo.com

Google offers groups also, and you can find them on the Groups link on Google at http://www.google.com

By conducting a subject or category search from either of these venues you can find a number of possible groups in which to participate.

I recommend you spend some time exploring Yahoo and Google groups. Register for an account with the one you like best. Don’t necessarily start writing online yet. That comes later. Instead, just look around and become familiar with the “environment.” It may be foreign to you at first.

Have fun and keep writing!

Sincerely

Karl Schroeder

https://selfpublishingadvice.wordpress.com

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Obama and Publisher Make News in Self-Publishing

Denver saw the Democratic Nation Convention come and go last week, with several exciting events that many were fortunate to be a part of – some planned and others much more unexpected. One of those unanticipated occurrences transpired into what has become an interesting development in the self-publishing book world.

 

Author Robert Kuttner’s recently released book entitled, “Obama’s Challenge,” published by a small, liberal east coast publishing house were distributed across Denver throughout the week of the DNC.

 

In an decision that sparked almost immediate news, the book’s publisher also handed out coupons that can be redeemed through an established on-demand book seller.  The company’s president explained the decision by stating, “This is about a publisher’s commitment to its author to get one of a very few pro-Obama books out into the marketplace in the shortest amount of time.” 


It may come as no surprise that the decision invoked friction from several independent brick and mortar stores, along with traditional powerhouse, Barnes & Noble, who, following the event, decided to stock the book exclusively online—most likely a decision to compete with the consumer convenience of instant, on-demand fulfillment through virtual retailers.

 

Barnes & Noble’s reaction comes at time when book sales are moving in the direction of increasingly popular online storefronts like Amazon, where a large portion of self-published books are experiencing growing success.

 

An exciting, portending event for the authors everywhere, especially self-publishing authors.

 

Have fun. Keep writing.

 

Sincerely,

Karl Schroeder 

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More Pricing information for the self-publishing author

We recently discussed the importance of book pricing in self-publishing. Let’s now take a closer look at trade discount. What is it and what should you know about it?

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. Instead, 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 have ranged 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. Ask your publisher. And make sure you to keep 100% of your profits.

Depending on your distribution goals, look for the flexibility to establish a trade discount from 0% – 55%. A 55% trade discount will generally 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, and Borders websites, among other online sales channels, your book can be published at the retail margin that bookstores and chains are looking for.

Have fun and keep writing!

Karl Schroeder

Choosing a Publisher

4 Myths about Self-Publishing

There can be a lot of confusion about self publishing and print-on-demand. As you decide the best publishing path for you, I would like to clarify some misconceptions you may have heard.

 

1. MYTH: Whoever owns the ISBN owns the book.

FACT: This use to be true. Nowadays, not as much so. Most POD publishers assign an ISBN they own, and they do this for the authors’ convenience; in any case authors should ALWAYS keep all the rights to their book.

 

2. MYTH: Independent self-publishing is different from publishing with a POD publisher because the publisher owns the ISBN. 

FACT: It is true that the ISBN identifies the publisher of record. Look for a publisher that allows authors to supply their own ISBN at some level.

 

3.MYTH: New York publishers promote and market all their books.

FACT: New York publishers usually devote the lion’s share of their marketing budget to the top 1% (Harry Potter, for example) of the books they publish. The other books published during that season are victims of the sliced marketing budget. Most authors don’t get any support from their traditional publisher at all.

 

4.MYTH: Printing a book with an off-set printer is the same as publishing it.

FACT: Printing a book is one facet of publication. Before a book can be printed, it needs to be designed. Then it needs to be printed. Then it needs wholesale distribution through Ingram and availability online with retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Then it needs fulfillment of orders and invoicing.

 

Printing a book with an off-set printer accomplishes one of those steps. Publishing a book with a turn-key, custom self-publisher accomplishes all of them.  Some authors choose to do both; an on-demand edition complements an off-set print-run very nicely.

 

I hope you found this helpful.  Keep writing!

 

Sincerely,

Karl Schroeder

Choosing a Publisher

More Pricing Info for the Self-Publishing Author

Many options in the custom self-publishing world provide you with the unique freedom to set your own retail cover price.  Authors should have the control set their own trade discount and royalty they want to early in the publishing process.  In fact, some publisher’s websites even provide features that automatically calculate the necessary pricing information for you based on your book details right away.

 

That dynamic pricing calculation should also include your author copy base price—the price you can purchase your book at.  This is one detail to consider when selecting your publisher.  Upon close look you may notice that some publishers artificially inflate a book’s retail price and then offering to sell copies to the author for a “discount.”  Strangely, this scheme adopted by so many POD publishers is similar to what you’d find with off-set printers—providing a “bulk discount” only if the author orders a large number of books all at once.  That defeats one of the biggest advantages of print-on-demand.  All they have really done is inflated the low-quantity costs enough to allow a discount on higher quantities.  No wonder their retail prices can be so high.

 

Look for a publisher that offers the pricing flexibility to allow your book to retail at the best competitive rates possible, while also providing you the option to purchase your book at those below wholesales costs in low quantities to sell on your own.

 

Have fun and keep writing!

 

Sincerely,

Karl Schroeder