I'm not going to give you pages and pages of stuff on publishing because there are a lot of resources out there, but I'll give you the run down.
There are several different types of publishing. Let's look at the three most popular.
Mass-market publishing
Most books you see in the store are mass-market. They are produced by a publishing house. The writers probably have agents. The publishing house pays for all the marketing and production of the book. The publishers hire the editor, the cover artist, etc. The author makes a very small (if any) profit. The book reaches more people than any other type of publishing. More copies will be sold. If successful, contracts get signed for additional books by the author.
Traditional independent publishing
The author creates the book, including formatting, cover art, etc. The author can hire people to edit the book, but he/she has to pay out of pocket. The author pays for the printing of the book. The author has to get his/her own barcode if the book is to appear on any shelf. The author gets boxes of books and has to sell them him/herself. The author does all the marketing. The author makes all the profit (minus the cost of printing, marketing, editing, etc.)
On-demand independent publishing
Type A) The author creates a book and sends it to a company like Book Surge or somesuch. The people at the company work with the author to create the book for a fee. The company handles the copy-editing, etc. The book gets put into the system to be printed as people order them. There is no box of books in the basement, but instead books are printed on demand. The author gets a fairly large profit compared to mass-market (minus the fee to the company).
Type B) The author create a book and sends it to a company like Create Space or somesuch. There is no individual rep from the company working with the author to make sure the book is ready to go. The book almost automatically goes into the system to be printed on demand. The author makes all the profit of the book and does not have to pay the company for any assistant from a rep (although they deduct printing cost as always).
Which type of publishing is right for you?
If your goal is to become a published author whose books are out on the market, easily accessible, selling lots of copies, etc., then mass-market is the way to go. You should either know someone in the publishing business or find yourself an agent. To get an agent, research the industry, write query letters, and schmooze at conferences.
If you don't care about selling lots of copies, but just want your book available to friends and family, try on-demand publishing. It's faster and you don't need an agent. But be warned that if you ever want to try mass-market, most agents snub independent published books. If they see you've published your own book, some agents will not even consider you. You have to sell a ridiculous amount of copies of an independently published book in order to get an agent's attention. To sell a lot of books, you need to be very good at marketing.
Traditional independent publishing is very expensive because you have to pay for all the printing and marketing. Printing places tend to give better deals the more books you print, so they'll get you to make a lot of copies. What if you don't sell all the copies you print? You won't make a profit, that's what. But some people's lifestyles work with this type of publishing.
Just keep in mind that the publishing industry looks down on self-publishing for the most part. Your friends will be impressed, but it's probably not something you'll want to advertise with the professionals. Anybody can self-published whether it's a well-written book or not.
Here's a quote from the New York Times (“Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab”):
“For every thousand titles that get self-published, maybe there’s two that should have been published,” said Cathy Langer, lead buyer for the Tattered Cover bookstores in Denver, who said she had been inundated by requests from self-published authors to sell their books. “People think that just because they’ve written something, there’s a market for it. It’s not true.”
Need some advice on publishing and query letters? Check out my resources and links page.
There are several different types of publishing. Let's look at the three most popular.
Mass-market publishing
Most books you see in the store are mass-market. They are produced by a publishing house. The writers probably have agents. The publishing house pays for all the marketing and production of the book. The publishers hire the editor, the cover artist, etc. The author makes a very small (if any) profit. The book reaches more people than any other type of publishing. More copies will be sold. If successful, contracts get signed for additional books by the author.
Traditional independent publishing
The author creates the book, including formatting, cover art, etc. The author can hire people to edit the book, but he/she has to pay out of pocket. The author pays for the printing of the book. The author has to get his/her own barcode if the book is to appear on any shelf. The author gets boxes of books and has to sell them him/herself. The author does all the marketing. The author makes all the profit (minus the cost of printing, marketing, editing, etc.)
On-demand independent publishing
Type A) The author creates a book and sends it to a company like Book Surge or somesuch. The people at the company work with the author to create the book for a fee. The company handles the copy-editing, etc. The book gets put into the system to be printed as people order them. There is no box of books in the basement, but instead books are printed on demand. The author gets a fairly large profit compared to mass-market (minus the fee to the company).
Type B) The author create a book and sends it to a company like Create Space or somesuch. There is no individual rep from the company working with the author to make sure the book is ready to go. The book almost automatically goes into the system to be printed on demand. The author makes all the profit of the book and does not have to pay the company for any assistant from a rep (although they deduct printing cost as always).
Which type of publishing is right for you?
If your goal is to become a published author whose books are out on the market, easily accessible, selling lots of copies, etc., then mass-market is the way to go. You should either know someone in the publishing business or find yourself an agent. To get an agent, research the industry, write query letters, and schmooze at conferences.
If you don't care about selling lots of copies, but just want your book available to friends and family, try on-demand publishing. It's faster and you don't need an agent. But be warned that if you ever want to try mass-market, most agents snub independent published books. If they see you've published your own book, some agents will not even consider you. You have to sell a ridiculous amount of copies of an independently published book in order to get an agent's attention. To sell a lot of books, you need to be very good at marketing.
Traditional independent publishing is very expensive because you have to pay for all the printing and marketing. Printing places tend to give better deals the more books you print, so they'll get you to make a lot of copies. What if you don't sell all the copies you print? You won't make a profit, that's what. But some people's lifestyles work with this type of publishing.
Just keep in mind that the publishing industry looks down on self-publishing for the most part. Your friends will be impressed, but it's probably not something you'll want to advertise with the professionals. Anybody can self-published whether it's a well-written book or not.
Here's a quote from the New York Times (“Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab”):
“For every thousand titles that get self-published, maybe there’s two that should have been published,” said Cathy Langer, lead buyer for the Tattered Cover bookstores in Denver, who said she had been inundated by requests from self-published authors to sell their books. “People think that just because they’ve written something, there’s a market for it. It’s not true.”
Need some advice on publishing and query letters? Check out my resources and links page.
No comments:
Post a Comment