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 provider
of publishing services to both traditional book publishers
and individual authors, we find ourselves frequently
answering the basic questions - such as:
How to Publish a Book
All too frequently the
question of how to publish a book
(and how to self publish a book)
deteriorates to a discussion of whether or not an
author should use self-publishing companies or go
it completely alone. I, personally, believe that,
all things being equal, the simpler of the two is
to use a high-quality, price competitive self publishing
company. We review a tremendous number of our self
publisher competitors on a very regular basis and
maintain a large database of each and their publishing
services. Self publishing companies all seem to focus
efforts on NOT disclosing fully those things that
an aspiring author needs to know. I really feel that
accumulating all the available data will help authors
make better publishing decisions regarding how
to publish a book.
Compare
Self Publishing Companies
HERE
See
how much it REALLY costs
to publish a book.
Authorhouse, iUniverse, Outskirts Press and Xlibris
pricing analyzed and compared.
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I get really annoyed when
some of my self publisher brethren ask us
how to publish a book, then don't
act on our advice. Many publishers talk about their
up front publishing package costs and how inexpensive
they are in relation to everyone else in the market.
The author who has written a book using their sweat
and tears now brings it to light in the market for
a very reasonable fee. However, they've also condemned
the book the sit stagnant on the bookshelf. Why? Because
to reduce the up front publishing costs, the book
publisher had to significantly raise the costs they
charge for book printing. The number one factor impacting
if you sell books - even beyond the quality of your
writing - is the price you have to charge your readers!
The more book printing costs from your publisher,
the higher your retail price - often beyond what someone
will be willing to pay (except of course for Mom and
Aunt Martha... )
How to publish a book -
that someone will buy....
We try to discuss target
markets and on whom the book publisher should focus
for each of our authors when we are talking about
how to pubilsh a book. Quite often
an author will tell us their book is for everyone
- every reader needs this book, but all for a different
reason. One of your core tasks as an author, when
learning how to publish a book, is
that you must target a specific audience and pursue
them relentlessly. "But what about the sales
I'll lose from the other segments?" is the next
question we get. Successful book sales are a long
pursuit that requires consistent and persistent effort
- and has quite a bit to do with the pursuit of targeted
audiences and very little to do with reaching out
to 'everyone'
How to publish a book -
chasing best-sellers...
We all dream of conquering
the world of publishing. We cannot do it without bothering
to learn about how to publish a book.
Authors often fall within two camps - some start off
very conservative, with realistic expectations and
desires, while the other camp dashes in with the wild
pursuit of book sales in the tens of thousands of
units. These authors head into the market chasing
the bestseller lists, with the thought that 'my book
can sell just like X.' Chasing a best-seller list
is an exercise in futility - in only the rarest of
cases do books make the best-seller lists without
spending tens of thousands of dollars in marketing
and placement fees (often more like hundreds of thousands...)
Don't put yourself in this position - it's frustrating
and unlikely to create any meaningful success.
How to publish a book -
it's about the marketing...
Last, but not least, in
our segment on how to publish a book
is the statistic that often authors are not as willing
as they need to be to spend time marketing their own
book. All too often they want to throw money at the
problem rather than time and effort. We've addressed
this is our articles
before, self publishers who are willing to spend
more money than time on marketing techniques. This
just doesn't make sense, since self publishers are
almost always short on cash and more than likely to
be publishing a first book to make some money. You
can hire someone like Dog Ear to perform 'technical
marketing' programs, but you ultimately are the
number one advocate and marketer for your book. Miles
and I spend a lot of time speaking with authors about
book marketing and their book
marketing plan ideas. And, all too often, the
marketing plan is unfocused and aimed at 'everyone'
so that they can sell a million books in a hurry.
I'm sorry, but you need to focus and target - if you
can't identify a specific reader and why they might
buy your book, don't do it...
How to publish a book -
traditional or self publish...
So lets go back to the
original question about how to publish a book
- using a self publisher or starting your own publishing
imprint or publishing company. I've an interesting
statistic that shows that you are slightly more likely
to be successful when self publishing a book than
you are when deciding to pursue the traditional book
publisher market. Now, honestly, both avenues present
slim chances for overwhelming success - but only in
self publishing do you have the chance to control
your own destiny. How many of the books published
each year actually are promoted as a premier or best-seller?
Did you know that nearly 70% of the books published
by traditional publishers were returned in 2004?
The difference between
being a self publisher and using
a self publisher to publish a book
is who performs each of the publishing tasks. I use
the example of building a house - most of us hire
a contractor to build our houses. There are the occasional
few (like my father) who build their houses themselves
or act as the general contractor. But it's not the
norm. A self publishing company should merely act
as your general contractor for the building of your
book. For most authors, who may publish one, two or
even three books, it is much more advantageous to
use a self publishing company than to go through the
processes themselves.
Common Questions surrounding book
publishing-
I want to use previously
printed material. Do I have to clear permissions and
do all the paperwork?
You will need to secure permission to use any material
that doesn't specifically belong to you - including
art and photos. Your Editorial Manager can supply
the needed permissions forms. If you do decide to
use previously printed material, you should not use
more than 10% of the total content of the originating
source. Please note that using material for 'Education'
is not all needed to have something defined as "fair
use".
What if I want to
change material printed previously?
You should never change reprinted material. So let
our experts determine whether copyright clearance
should be obtained.
Will my book publishing
project look like a real book?
Your book WILL BE a 'real' book - and will stand with
the best products produced by the largest and most
successful publishers. Each and every part of your
project will be created with the highest level of
professional design and production.
How much money do
I make on each sale?
Most of our authors are invested in the success of
their book, and also expect to be rewarded for their
hard work. As a photo book publishing author, you
are in complete control of your profit level. You
can make as little or as much as you like on your
project.
How much should I
charge for my book?
The retail price of your custom text is dependant
upon many factors - including the printing costs,
market factors, and your desired profit level. See
our Retail
Pricing page for strategies on setting a retail
price and your author profit. The final customer
price is set by the store.
I've tried to provide
an answer to the question "How to publish
a book?" Dog Ear Publishing provides writers
a simple, quick and economical way of getting published.
Dog Ear Publishing's cutting edge publishing technologies
completely eliminate the need for printing books in
huge quantities and our unmatched processes provide
our authors the fastest time-to-market of any full
service self publisher.
And - we make your books
affordable enough that you can actually sell them
and make a profit. That is VERY different that most
of the competition in the self publishing market.
That's how to
publish a book... thanks for reading!
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