On Demand Book Publishers
Self Publishing: Truths & Lies
Author: Terence Tam
Are you anxious to get your book published?
Being anxious to see your work bound and printed is a feeling that all authors have experienced at some point or another, but being too anxious may result in poor decisions that you’ll regret later. So before you join the bandwagon in self publishing your book, let us consider the truths and lies about self publishing.
Lie: Self publishing is expensive. Some writers and authors say that starting with your own cost too much financially.
Truth: Self publishing is easy and affordable. Contrary to the popular belief among new authors, self publishing isn’t hard to break in to and cost little too. Since self-publishing is an evolving industry with lots of competitors, publishers are continually upgrading their facilities, offering higher quality services, and affordable pricing at your convenience.
Here’s how it works. You select a size for your book, format your Word manuscript to fit that size, turn your Word doc into a PDF, create some cover art in Photoshop, turn that into a PDF, and upload it all to the self-publisher of your choosing. Depending on the level of service you choose, it can be as easy as uploaded an unformatted word document to the self-publishing service provider, and voila! They produce a completed book for you!
Lie: Self publishing companies offer low-quality services.
Truth: Self publishing firms are here to stay. They have been in business for quite sometimes now and are continually changing for the better offering high-quality services for new authors like you. The standard of many self publishing companies are quite solid. The sole giveaway that you are offering a self-published book would be if the cover were poorly designed so you have to make sure the company you work with has a great track record to back them up such as testimonials/ feedbacks from their clients.
Lie: All self-publishing companies don’t care whether you believe they’re your ticket to instant fame and fortune. They will make you believe how easy it is to make it to Oprah’s book club.
Truth: A reputable, honest self-publishing company will tactfully attempt to manage your expectations. They will inform you that it’s nearly impossible to make Oprah’s book club even if you’re traditionally published. They’ll explain how much sweat and toil it would take to sell any copies of your book at all once it’s published but will assure you of their support and assistance in marketing your book.
Lie: Your book will sell right away as soon as it’s off from the printing press.
Truth: Even if your book is great, there’s a great chance it will not sell.Book sales will be slow at first which is very common among new authors. This is where your marketing plan comes into effect. Don’t give up, persistence is the key to sales when you self publish a book.
Lie: Only use services of big publishing companies.
Truth: Should you elect to self-publish, you’re encouraged to shop around. The big guys aren’t always your best bet. Many smaller publishers offer excellent service at affordable prices. It all depends on your needs and how much assistance you are looking for.
Self publishing is easier to learn than you may think if you take the time and do your research and take things one step at a time.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/publishing-articles/self-publishing-truths-lies-3297667.html
About the Author
© 2010 Bookpal Australia Pty Ltd – All Rights Reserved Worldwide
http://www.Bookpal.com.au/ is helping self publishers all around the world to successfully self publish and market their books with cost effective solutions to create bestsellers. The website offers a free book for budding self publishers, and many other free resources.
Terence Tam is the founder of Bookpal, he previously spent 6 years as an academic and was a contributing author for several academic books. Frustrated with the level of service he was getting with traditional publishers, he set up his own self publishing company to help other authors publish and market books with cost effective yet efficient solutions.
Tagged with: book printing • book publishers • book publishing • print on demand • Publishing a Book & How to Publish a Book • Publishing Companies • self publishing
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AUTHOR ASSIST COM. Is ready to help writers.
I do publicity on the side for a few authors and I can pretty much tell you that since you went with a dot.com publisher getting your book into the major bookstores is an uphill battle. You’ll be lucky if you can do it even in your state much less with a B&N or Borders.
First of all, they are considered vanity presses which means for a price anybody can get their book published and bookstores have never stocked those to the degree that they have traditional publishers.
Second of all, as a print-on-demand book bookstores are hesitant to order books they can’t return if they don’t sell and many print-on-demand books are non-returnable.
Thirdly, the only way to get your book distributed nationally with bookstores is to get it with a mainstream publisher, because the publishers partner with bookstores on quanitity of books and even the layout of the books in the bookstores.
Once in a blue moon you’ll hear of a small press or vanity press that has success on a national level. Treasure Trove was one from a couple years ago that had some national press on NBC and took off from there, but that’s the only one I’ve seen.
My advice to every writer is go through traditional methods for publication if you want to be a best-selling author.
They wouldn’t.
POD books have had a long-held reputation of being poorly written and poorly edited.
Traditional publishers won’t touch anything that doesn’t bring in a boatload of money and has a strong following.
Amazon.com may have a rank-and-file system which allows authors the chance to have their books posted and seen to the world in general–but the truth is…
You have to have a damned good book and a name that people recognize as being a major money-bringer and someone they can have blind faith in to bringing out a really good book.
Most POD authors don’t understand this. They think that just because they are published by a third party outlet, it means that traditional publishers will suddenly “look them up” and take them in.
Unfortunately, it’s never the case–because it’s so damned rare for a POD author to be picked up out of the blue these days.
The ongoing recession has a lot of publishers stream-lining their operations and cutting back on a number of fronts–including signing up agented authors for a nice six-figure contract. (Or seven–for that matter. It’s been a few years since the publishers had gone and done such a thing.)
So your job as a POD author is a hell of a lot harder than it usually is.
The key is to know the publishing business. You need a press able to produce multiple formats (hardcover, mass market, and trade paperback), and the ability to distribute your books.
That’s where many self-created publisher fall flat on their faces. They can’t get books into bookstores, where the vast majority of all book sales take place. Until they do that, they’re no better off that the POD customer.
If the priest is local and/or well known to your area then his best bet will be to research local or regional small presses, including, if available, the state University press.
Otherwise you may find something of use to you here:
http://www.cbpa.org/members.html
http://www.keepingitcatholic.org/publishers.html
It is fairly unlikely that a large national house will express interest in his work unless there is something major that sets it apart from the pack. This sounds like a work well suited to niche publication. He is wise to avoid self publishing. That’s a nasty little rabbit hole.
By the way, just as with any other publisher, he should not just send his work off to them. He needs to research their requirements and query them to see if there is interest, though frequently with small press there is less of a need for an agent than there is with the national houses.
I wrote a book,The Good, The Bad,The Blessing. Would like to get a PR for better marketing..please help!?
I am looking to do better marketing and to hopefully get on the shelves of major book stores and a permanent book for Children & Maternity stores. It is currently a print on demand book. Publisher is Authorhouse.com. I really needs the insights on how to do better marketing or obtaining a great PR. Does anyone know of PR’s that are trying to get their feet wet and looking for an opportunity. I am hungry for getting my book national recognition and any leads would be greatly appreciated.
I wrote a book: The Good, The Bad, The Blessing. Would like to get a PR for better marketing..please help!?
I am looking to do better marketing and to hopefully get on the shelves of major book stores and a permanent book for Children & Maternity stores. It is currently a print on demand book. Publisher is Authorhouse.com. I really needs the insights on how to do better marketing or obtaining a great PR. Does anyone know of PR’s that are trying to get their feet wet and looking for an opportunity. I am hungry for getting my book national recognition and any leads would be greatly appreciated.
How do you become a book publisher? What steps does one need to take to achieve that? KIE?
I am a writer with one book out for purchase. I used a POD (Print on demand) source to put my book out there. A lot of authors today are self-publishing their books and starting their own publishing to do this. i would like to know how?
What reputable publishers are worth pursuing?
My grandfather has recently written a biographical book on the surprisingly exciting life of a Catholic priest. He’s looking to find a publisher for this book, which, he jokingly says, “will revitalize the priesthood”.
However, he’s wary of publishers such as PublishAmerica and other vanity presses and print-on-demand pbulishers. What publishers should he send his book to and which publishers does he stand the best chance of getting his book published?
Thanks.
What Amazon sales rank would a traditional publisher seriously consider taking on a POD book?
At what number Amazon.com sales ranking would my print on demand book have to reach for a traditional publisher to seriously consider wanting to obtain rights to my book and transition it over to their imprint?