Do Whatever It Takes

There are many avenues to having your manuscript printed these days; traditional, self, print on demand (POD), electronic and audio publishing. You will hear numerous arguments on one being better than the other. The bottom line is what works best for you. Of course, the pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow would be the large to midsize traditional publishing houses, such as Random House, Simon & Schuster, Inc. or Penguin. With the large houses the author can receive cash advances (royalties paid up front), nationwide exposure and is available in bookstores. Don’t think by signing with these large publishers all you need to do is arrive at your book promotion parties and attend occasional conferences. That’s a misconception.

Regardless of publisher (large or small), there will be a lot of work ahead of you. Going with a small publisher is quite different than going with Random House. For example, cash advances are practically nonexistence and out of pocket expenses for self-promotion are not uncommon. The small presses will do what they can to promote you but expecting them to pay for your flight to writer’s conferences across the county is out of the question. This also goes for epublishers and self-publishing entities.

No doubt you’re thinking right now, ‘I’m going with the traditional publishers’. What do you do if they don’t want you? What are your options?

What is an ebook?

An ebook is a novel that is printed on the web and is professionally edited. It comes in many formats, html, PDF, rtf, etc. to make it easily read from a computer, PDA or ebook reader.

Misconceptions about ebooks:

The writing is poor
The quality of the book is low-grade
If it is published electronically it must not have been good enough for a real publisher

In truth, years ago these were true. The problem today is that these stigmas are having a hard time being wiped away. A few years ago Stephen King had a novel, ‘Riding the Bullet’ published exclusively as an ebook. Its response was tremendous and energized the epublishing market. With the popularity of electronic publishing higher standards had to be accepted. Poorer writing and quality because less frequent and today many ebooks meet the same professionalism of traditional publishing houses.

You’re asking, “If the writing quality matches that of large print houses, why hasn’t a traditional publisher picked your novel up?” Sometimes it has nothing to do with your writing skills but the content. Let’s say you write a time-traveling historic romance horror novel, something completely new. The marketing department may say that they don’t know how to promote your mixed genre. The publisher may love it--the editors may love it--but it all comes down to money. If the marketing department determines they can’t sell your novel, then your chances for traditional publishing just went down the drain.

Still not convinced? You won’t be happy until you have your printed novel in your hand. Then look no further than Print on Demand. Many epublishers are printing hardcopies of their ebooks in a trade paperback format. Trade format are as large as hardcover novels but with a soft, flexible exterior like a paperback. The disadvantages to ebook/POD generally are availability in brick & mortar stores and of course the stigma I spoke about earlier.

So now you’re asking, ‘Why aren’t they available in Barnes & Noble or Borders?” The easy answer—whatever the bookstore cannot sell, they (bookstore) want to have the ability to return the unsold stock. Traditional publishers have books stored in warehouses, POD does not. Print on demand means your book will not be printed until an order has been placed by a customer. This means if the bookstore orders 20 copies of your novel and after three months on the shelves, six have not been sold, your book cannot be returned and the bookstore is stuck with stock they no longer want.

Convincing customers to visit the online publisher’s website to purchase your book rather than have them visit the local bookstore can sometimes prove to be a chore. Even when they find out your book is available at reputable websites such as http://www.amazon.com or http://www.bordersstores.com you find yourself losing sales. It is not the end of the world however, there is a market for selling your book on the Internet and getting your book in bookstores is not entirely impossible. Oftentimes local bookstores are willing to carry your novel if you build a relationship with them and meet the stores criteria.

A new trend is to have your novel go directly to audio CD format and skipping print all together. With the right equipment you could produce your own audio at home or you can rent time at a recording studio. There are businesses that will produce your book by providing voice actors, packaging and distribution but this comes at a significant price. Prices can go upwards of $1000 to $12,000 based on word count, quantity and quality. There is a huge rise in the market for CD audio. You have to determine if this is an investment you are willing to make.

Since the topic of audio has been brought up, I should mention podcasting. With this option the author records his story in an .mp3 format and can make the audio novel available for download from a website. Purchasers then have the choice to listen to podcast on their computer, mp3 player or other media type.

If you want to make the maximum amount of profit, maintain complete control of your book, and want your novel to be in print as soon as possible, maybe self-publishing is for you. At first glance this may seem a perfect fit for you. However, there is one huge disadvantage, there is no professional editing. If you are an English Lit major perhaps this is something you may feel confident to handle on your own. If you’re not, then I wouldn’t recommend self-editing. You could get a second mortgage on your home and pay the publisher to edit your novel at an additional charge.

There are cheaper self-publishing options such as online websites where you can upload your novel and have it available for sale in days. At http://www.lulu.com for example, you can have this done for free. The novel can be printed as hardcover, softcover or ebook. Lulu uses POD technology. What makes them unique is that they keep costs down for authors. You can have your novel professionally edited for about $400 there. They also offer a distribution package which places your novel on Amazon and various other online retail sites.

Now to get to the nitty gritty. How much money can you make?

There’s one thing in common regardless of which publishing house you choose, authors are paid in royalties. Royalties vary among publishers. At a traditional publisher the author may receive between 7 to 15 percent of the net sales of books. At a self-publisher, the author may have more flexibility on setting the price of their novel, thus controlling how much royalties they will receive. For the purpose of providing numbers, let say somewhere between 30 to 75 percent. Keep in mind to achieve getting the latter royalties, your book may have to have an outrageous price tag. For ebooks royalties are between 25 to 50 percent of net sales. POD between 7 to 35 percent.

Does traditional publishing seem to be on the losing end? Don’t be fooled. With greater market impact and availability you are more likely to sell more books, thus receiving more royalties. Being published by a midsize to large house does not guarantee you will be a full time author. Most writers’ average around $30,000 a year generated by sales of their books.

These printing methods, ebooks, POD, podcast and self-publishing won’t make you a millionaire either. What they can do for you is get your foot in the door. By choosing these print options you can prove that your books can generate sales and show that you have a loyal fan base. In my opinion, your ultimate goal should be getting printed by a traditional publisher. Many successful authors have started their writing careers with self-publishers and epublishers, some of them you might recognize; John Grisham’s ‘A Time to Kill’, James Redfield’s ‘Celestine Prophecy’ and M. J. Rose’s ‘Lip Service’. There are too many authors to mention to add to the list. These authors tried traditional publishers first and were all turned away before self-publishing. It wasn’t until they made a name for themselves that the publishers started taking them seriously.

Be smart about the publisher you select, there are predators out there waiting to take advantage of new authors. Before signing any contract, check out the business. There are several websites you can visit that have a listing of agents, editors, publishers and printers. For example visit a site like http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors where they have an easy to understand rating system.

Don’t let misconceptions scare you from taking an opportunity when it presents itself. Believe it or not, many authors are perfectly happy not being apart of the traditional establishments. Getting published takes fortitude and vigilance.