Many novelists—especially those who do a lot of public speaking—need a print book. Just having a book online isn’t enough. Maybe you’re one of those writers. You’re dying to see your words in crisp black print on a white page. Well, hang on! I’ve got a lot of ground to cover if you’re considering self-publishing.
The first thing to consider is the business aspect of self-publishing in print. Likely you’ll be putting out some money to get that book in your hands. Take a look at what one self-published author had to say about print vs. eBook:
The thing I LOVE about doing paperbacks vs eBooks (and the reason I always do them first) is - what you see is what you get. What you see on the screen is how it looks in the book. You don't have to worry about anything "hidden" in your document screwing something up like can happen with eBook uploads. Takes no time at all to do most of the formatting. Some of it means you have to know how to use Word well (like headers/footers & page numbering), but most of it is very simple.
(Dawn M. Turner, author of Everything In God's Time)
Another self-published author chimed in on this subject, as well, explaining her reasoning for self-publishing in print, as well as eBook form:
Surprisingly, our print books have outsold our e-versions at about a 10-to-1 ratio. Turns out that readers of all ages, not just seniors, enjoy having a print book to hold. After much research, we chose to use Lightning Source as our printer/distributor. They aren't extremely newbie-user-friendly, but the customer service is excellent and the product is topnotch. - Christina Tarabochia, Publisher, Ashberry Lane Publishing
These ladies make good points, don’t they? There’s just something so lovely about holding a real book in your hands. And that’s what you want. . .a real book. You have pictured it for so long, and now it seems doable. You swallow hard and make up your mind. You’re going to self-publish. But which route will you take? POD (print on demand)? Vanity Press? Subsidy publisher? Let’s look at the details of each so that you can choose the best possible route.
POD/PRINT ON DEMAND:
The print on demand technology makes it possible for you to upload your book and only print as many copies as you need at one time, purchasing only what you can afford. Consider this quote:
Print-On-Demand technology means the author, via numerous, accessible global distribution channels like Amazon.com, can have a book printed only when an order has been placed and it is available for purchase world-wide. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-publishing)
The technology for these books is pretty amazing. You’ll get a quality book that looks just like one from a traditional publishing house, only you won’t have to wait for the approval of an editor or agent. Unlike days gone by, people won’t be able to tell at a glance that you’ve produced your own book. The quality will likely convince them that your book deserves a fair shake.
Economical is nice...
POD books are economical for the author. In the old days the self-published author would have to pay for a large print run of several hundred (or even several thousand) books at once. The pocketbook took a huge hit. With POD, copies of the books aren’t even printed until after an order is received. In other words, one copy of the book can be printed at a time. What a revolutionary idea! Even traditional publishing houses are jumping onboard this train. We can thank digital printing for this luxury. The old form of printing (letterpress or offset printing) simply wasn’t economical.
Who offers these services? Amazon. Lulu. iUniverse. There are probably others, but these are the big names. Some (such as Amazon) even offer distribution through their websites and/or bookstores.
Other services
POD publishing can be a great option because of the quality, but you might still want/require help along the way. Most sites (like Lulu.com, for instance), offer a variety of services to the author, including cover design and illustration, editing, PR, reviews, online support, community forums, and so on. They also offer custom discounts and several different shipping options and discount the books based on the quantity ordered. Not a bad deal.
So, what’s it like to POD publish?
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the process from the same author mentioned above, Dawn M. Turner (Everything In God's Time):
I chose CreateSpace (Amazon) because their system is so easy a trained monkey could use it. And I'm actually only being half-teasing about that. It really IS so
easy. They walk you through the process step by step. They have all the information you need to format a document properly as far as margins and such. The only thing they don't do (at least not that I saw) was tell you what fonts and such to use, and they didn't have a reminder to make sure you have your page header/footers.
It can take a few uploads to get everything perfectly the way you want it, but their online setup to look at everything is really nice. Once I have the document formatted (which takes me less than an hour unless I do special chapter headers that may double that time), I can usually have everything ready for review within an hour or so.
Once the review process is complete, I order a proof hard copy. I don't rely on the digital proof. I don't skip this part of the process. The one time I skipped this step, I wanted to kick myself in the backside as the covers of the hard copy books tend to be darker than they appear on the screen with some colors. It's not a serious discrepancy unless you use a dark color like I did on one of mine. On my screen it was black text over a darker color but still very legible.
On the hard copies, the background color was darker than it appeared on the screen so the text almost disappeared. So that is one thing I suggest anyone do that uses CS for their books - buy that proof copy! Be sure the colors are what you want them to be, and go through the entire book while you're at it. I've caught something in every book that I had missed on the screen (like a chapter header in the wrong place on the page) or a typo on the copyright page. Far better to catch those in the proof stage than to find them after you get a shipment of final copies in or a customer gets one and finds it.
The other thing - make sure your front matter is complete and part of the upload document. (Title page, copyright page, etc.) Every page you want to include in the finished book should be part of that document. They don't do any of that for you. You do everything yourself. If you keep that in mind, you'll have it covered.
As far as cost, except for the cost of proofs, the optional $25/book extended distribution charge, and any final product the author may choose to purchase (I buy them for promotional gifts and to sell to those I meet face-to-face), there are no costs to use CS to publish books. The proof for my last standard print edition was $4.78 plus shipping/handling (336 page 6"x9" format novel). I ended up making some needed adjustments to the cover layout plus fixed a couple of mistakes in the front matter, so I considered it a good investment.
The proof cost is generally within a few cents of the final product cost. I can order copies of that same book now for $4.88 each. I keep my own books on hand, and sometimes have trouble keeping them in stock.
Author Lee Carver chimed in with a few thoughts about CreateSpace, as well. You will see that her take on ordering the proofs is completely different:
“When printing with CreateSpace, don't order a "proof" book. It will come with "PROOF" stamped on the back page. Just order a book. Their online view of the book is excellent, allowing you to flip through the entire book and see everything. You'll get an error message for photos under 300 DBI, but they may print very well. You can proceed with the process even if you have a caution on this.
And don't be afraid to use photos and graphics. They now upload with the text, so much simpler than before. There's so much more to tell, but most important of all: download the formatting guide for whatever company you use, and follow their requirements absolutely.” (Lee Carver: www.LeeCarverWriter.com, http://LeeCarverWriter.blogspot.com)
Here’s the point. . .
You get to choose! Buy the proofs. . .or don’t buy the proofs. Pay for editing or don’t pay for editing. Upload photos. . .or don’t upload photos. You have the freedom to do whatever feels right to you. (And doesn’t that feel good?)
VANITY PRESSES
There are still small houses that publish small to medium-sized print runs of books for authors in a hurry. You’ll have to pay in advance for this service and it can be costly. Many an author has been sucked in, not realizing until too late that hidden costs could be their undoing. Cover design. Professional edit. Print costs. Marketing plans. On and on the list goes. If you venture into this world, tread carefully. Ending up with a quality product—a book that looks and feels like a “real” book—is tough. You might spend a small fortune, only to discover that the book looks cheesy in the end.
SUBSIDY PUBLISHING
Similar to Vanity presses, subsidy publishers pick and choose which books they will print. (In other words, your book has to meet approval with a publishing board.) You will end up paying for the printing/binding process but they publish under the company name and often help with marketing and distribution. If you publish with a subsidy publisher, you will likely receive royalties.
Ready to dive in?
Maybe you’ve decided to move forward with your print book and have made your choice: POD, Vanity or Subsidy publisher. Still, you’re feeling alone. You wonder if “real” authors (those who are traditionally published) will look at you differently.
While you’re fretting over that, consider the following: Many well-known (and loved) authors have self-published. For a lengthy list of writers from days gone by (as well as contemporaries), who’ve ventured into the world of self-publishing, visit this site: http://www.simonteakettle.com/famousauthors.htm. You might be surprised to find that many of the greats—including Zane Grey, Upton Sinclair, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Virginia Wolff, Beatrix Potter, Edgar Allen Poe and many, many more self- published some of their works. (Does that make you feel better?)
Still, it’s not a cakewalk.
The author who self-publishes often ends up doing much of the marketing. This can be overwhelming, but ultimately rewarding. Consider the following comment from self-published author, Diane Dean White (www.DianeDeanWhite.com):
I self-published two books in 2002 and 2004. I learned fast that I was doing all the promotional work. I'd started writing a lot of short stories that went across the WWW in mailings. The response was wonderful.
My first book Beach Walks was of many short stories. I had several book-signings, radio interviews and my book was available at shops in the area where we lived. By the time Carolina in the Morning was released, my first romance/suspense novelette, there were so many people on the Island, (we lived in a resort area in SC) who were self-published, the major book stores like B&N no longer held them. They wouldn't purchase books that couldn't be returned to the publisher. But, Hallmark and other boutiques actually turned out to be a better place to sell them. There wasn't the competition book stores have.
In 2004 I went on a half hour author interview on TV, and again found places where my books could be purchased; area stores, museum shop, etc. and kept track. Both books were self-published for under $300. I provided the photo for Beach Walks and my friend who was an artist, did the cover for Carolina in the Morning and several book illustrations. I purchased the books to resell on my website, through Pay-pal, but I also directed people a few years later to Amazon. My book was on all the online booksellers and distributed through other major chains.
To self-publish. . .or not to self-publish. That is the question.
Self-publishing is not without its share of headaches, but in this day and age self- publishing definitely offers authors a practical way to get the story out there to readers without having to wait for traditional publishing doors to open.
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