Non-Traditional Publishing Options

Subsidy / Print-on-Demand (POD) Option

Subsidy, print-on-demand (POD) or vanity publishing is often called self-publishing. These publishers include iUniverse, Xlibris, Lulu, Author House and others. In subsidy publishing, you send your manuscript to the publisher, they produce the books and you pay for them. Subsidy publishing has generated lots of fraud and abuse of authors over the years; however, there are now several legitimate companies that do subsidy publishing for a reasonable price. The subsidy publisher sets the price, handles distribution, and pays royalties on sales. Authors may receive a small number of books as part of their contract, and may purchase additional copies at a discount from the retail price.

Subsidy publishing can be the best choice when the profitability of your book is not important (e.g., family genealo-
gies, or a memoir you want to see in print or give to friends and family but do not want to actively market). Cover prices of subsidy published books are often too high to be competitive, mostly because of the production method
used where books are literally printed as they are ordered. The typical subsidy published book sells fewer than 100 copies.

Printing minimum order quantities has come down dramatically in recent years. Therefore, authors can quickly and
easily print a few copies of their new book and risk less money than ever before. Obviously, this virtually eliminates
one of the major barriers to entry and an estimated 90% of all books being published today are self-published.

The clear upside is that nobody can reject your proposal. If you want to write it and print it, go right ahead. In many
cases, the printing houses you would use to get the book put on paper have respectable distribution channels in place as well, meaning your book could theoretically reach the same shelves as those published by larger publishing companies. The downside is a lower degree of credibility, but for many, that's a small price to pay for their dream to get realized.

Online Publishing Option

Over the past couple of years a new publishing option has evolved that eliminates ALL of the negative aspects of the traditional publishing model and adds a number of additional benefits. It's called the "Online Publishing Option".

This is a combination of online digital download delivery and print-on-demand (POD) hard copy publishing that sidesteps almost all of the pitfalls of the traditional book publishing model. It offers small-time authors / publishers an excellent alternative that will give them more control, and will increase their sales and profits by using little known online channels when publishing their books / ebooks.

The important thing to remember is that regardless of the publishing method you choose, the majority of the marketing effort is left to the author. Even with the industry majors, it's the author's job to promote and sell his or her book. So, if you have ambitions to publish your own book, sit down and think about how you're going to sell it. If you have an answer to that question, you have a much better chance of getting accepted by the big boys.

Kennette Reed
http://www.ideatoauthor.com/

The Publishing Decision

One of the most important decisions a writer must make is choosing the publishing option that will best fit their needs, time constraints and marketing expertise. A review of the many publishing options is the beginning of the process. In this post, we'll look at Traditional Publishing.

Traditional or Non-Traditional Publishing
Early in the process, thought must be given to whether you’ll utilize traditional publishing (a publishing house publishes your work) or self-publishing (you publish your work). The rewards can be very different. The amount of learning, work, time and effort you are willing to put into this project will determine the direction you take.

For many new authors, self-publishing is the only way to make their work available for distribution. Review the information on both options and choose the option that best works for you.

Traditional Publishing
There are a number of huge publishing houses including Penguin, Random House and McGraw Hill that can do the job. However, these industry elephants usually only work with proven authors and generally require the author have a literary agent, before they'll even review the proposal. Of course, the upside is that these publishing giants are well respected, leaving you with better credibility and preferential shelf space within the major retailers.

When you choose traditional publishing, the publisher controls the process. They decide if they will publish the book, when it will be published, and what it will look like. The publisher may even have control of the title, the final edit of the book and is also responsible for all of the costs associated with printing and distributing your book. This option involves the author submitting book proposals or full manuscripts to commercial publishing houses in hope of acceptance.

Once a manuscript is accepted by a publishing house (the vast majority are not accepted) a contract is signed between the author and the publishing house. This kicks-off a time-consuming and often complex process involving printers, shippers, wholesalers, distributors, marketers, and finally, booksellers, all managed on the author’s behalf by the publishing house. Typically, it takes anywhere from 18 to 24 months from the time the author finishes a book manuscript, until the actual book gets onto the bookshelves.

As the author, you receive a royalty on each book sold, and may receive an advance against those royalties when the book is accepted by the publisher. Although the publisher may do some marketing of the book, most authors find that they must actively promote their books (often at their own expense) in order to make sales.

Traditional publishing is best if you don't want to invest in publishing your book, and are willing to be paid a percentage of the book's sales. There is prestige in being published by a major book publisher. If you choose the traditional publisher option, the best you can hope to receive for your book is a royalty somewhere between 6% and 10% of the “net”. The “net” is the amount the publisher receives AFTER discounting to retailers.

Example:
Cover price = $30
Discount to large retail chain = $15 (i.e. 50%).

Your cut would be somewhere between $0.90 and $1.50 per sale. So, for selling 3,000 copies (a very good sales figure) you would receive a grand total of somewhere between $2,700 and $4,500!

There are also other considerations. However, this gives you a brief overview of the traditional publishing option. In my next post, we'll look at a Non-Traditional Option.

Kennette Reed
http://ideatoauthor.com/

Realize Your Publishing Dream

Many people have expressed their desire to be a published author. However,wanting it, and actually taking the steps to turn the desire into reality are worlds apart.

Why do you want to become a published author? What is unique or different about what you've written or want to write? Why do you think anyone will care about what you've written or want to read what you’ve written? These are questions to be considered as you explore writing and the publishing options.

Yes, you can realize your publishing dream!

Build your belief that you CAN get published. Education can't stop you (the process is not rocket science), money can't stop you (it won't cost an arm and a leg) and time can't stop you (it doesn't need to be a full-time job). Only you can stop you!

If you decide this is getting published is your path and you're willing to put in the work to make it happen (yes, there's always the work), then realization of the publishing dream is possible. Once the belief is built, there are 5 key steps:

1. Find a great idea
2. Write your book
3. Market your book
4. Fulfill / deliver your book
5. Bank the money

If the manuscript is already finsished, you're well on the way to becoming a published author. Now, the many publishing options must be reviewed to determine which is right for you and your work.

Kennette Reed
http://ideatoauthor.com