If you think along the lines that publishing is a business, then let’s be candid here and say that just publishing will not make you any money.  Some will argue that unless you are in complete control of the product including buying the ISBN number, then you are truly not self-publishing.  I know some authors who would disagree. As a matter of fact, yesterday I was at the Empire State Book Festival and spoke to one author who stated that she publishes with several publishers because she wants to be in control of what gets published and how it looks. I also heard publishers state that self-publishing with a vanity publisher is not the same as it use to be because the definition of self-publishing is changing.  Yesterday, I heard publishers state that the new definition of publishing is now, not whether or not you own the ISBN number, but whether or not you’ve gone with a traditional publisher or not.

So with that being the new definition, let’s expand some more on the fact that just self-publishing a book does not make you money.  You have to brand yourself, market your product and create more products that will bring you money. I love reading the ads claiming that people can make money just self-publishing and when you divulge into it, it’s bullcrap.  It’s not as simple as publish, make money and all is well. You have to brand yourself, market your product and create more products around that one. Branding yourself includes doing speaking engagements, doing book signings, writing articles about your books topic, etc.  Marketing your product includes creating a marketing plan, affiliate marketing, joint-venture marketing, etc.  Creating more products include creating workbooks, e-books, online training programs.

Regardless of whether you are a fiction or non-fiction writer, the fact still remains that authorship is a business. The writers who’ve done well understand this fact. They understand that they have to brand themselves as experts in their field, or brand their publishing companies. They also understand that they have to market their product and don’t rely on anyone else to market it the way they should. They also understand that they need to create extra products in addition to their books and so they do.  When you start to look at authorship as being a business then you will do much better than those that don’t. Regardless of whether or not you self-publish or traditional publish, authorship is still a business and your success is vital on you understanding this.

In response to my other post this week, I was asked to go into more detail about authorship being a business.  To make it clearer, I’ve broken it down two ways: Traditional Publishing and Self-Publishing.  Most authors now-a-days are self-publishing, so we will start there.

Self-Publishing
You complete your manuscript (Product)
You spend money to have it packaged and printed and now you’re ready to introduce it to the world (Customers)
The customer buys it (Sale made)
You recoup your printing cost (Break even)
You made more than you put out (Profit)

Traditional Publishing with Agent
You complete your manuscript (Product)
You find an agent who you hope to have introduce your work to the publisher (Angel investor)
The agent finds the publisher who then gives you a contract stipulating they publish you, they market you, they invest in you and they put your product out in the market (Venture-capitalist)
Publisher gives you an advance (Loan)
The customer buys your product (Sale made)
Publisher recoups their advance (Break-even)
You make more than the Publisher puts out (A royalty)

Traditional Publishing without Agent
You complete your manuscript (Product)
You send your manuscript out to a publisher hoping they accept it (search for venture capitalist)
One does and provides you with a contract which guarantees you put no money out (secured venture capitalist)
Publisher gives you an advance (Loan)
The customer buys your product (Sale made)
Publisher recoups their advance (Break-even)
You make more than the Publisher puts out (A royalty)

So, as you can see, Publishing and Business go hand-in-hand.

This is only the beginning of us trying to explain to you how authorship being a business works.

Look for more blogs to come!

Welcome back to another edition of-What You Should Get For Your Self-Publishing Dollars-Part 3. Today we are discussing the number of books that the writer should receive when using a self-publishing company. If you’ve been following this series so far, then you know about thecli ent that I had in here recently who was considering publishing with another publishing house. For almost $8,000, they were about to get the following services:
1) The service that allowed them to give up all rights to their book
2) Template designed book covers
and now….
3) They want to only provide them with 25 books

Maybe it’s just me! Maybe i’m the crazy one, but if I’m about to spend nearly $8,000, I better get more than 25 books, I better get at least 100 books. The other kicker for me though is that if they want to buy more books, they can at half the cover price.
What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You just got nearly $8,000 of my money and you still want me to spend more money! That’s crazy! Let’s look at it another way:
I know that when I go shopping at Walmart that $78 gets me a whole shopping cart full of stuff. I can only imagine how many carts I could fill for $7800. It absolutely boggles my mind how writers just accept this and spend money with publishing companies who have these standards. These publishing companies provide so little books for so much money. They do it because they know that most writers accept this as the standard and are so desperate to publish their books, that they will take any amount of books offered to them, regardless of how small or large the quantity.
Let’s do a little math:
312*25=$7800
an average book is $15 paperback, $20 hardcover
100 books*$15=$1500
200 books *$15=$3000
300 books*15=$4500
So on average, if you’re going to spend over $3000 to get a book published, you should get at a minimum 100 books and that’s if the publisher is charging you full price for those 100 books. Sadly, there are so many greedy self-publishers that only want to give you so few books because they are afraid that if they give you more and you sell them, that they won’t make a profit. If they give you 100 books and you sell those 100 books, not give them away but sell them, then that’s all money in your pocket and less in theirs. They figure if they give you a few books, then you’ll come back for more. They also figure that you’re not going to sell those 25 books, that your only going to give them away, so they think that they are doing you a favor in providing you with 25 books to give away. 25 books that you already paid for, so it’s not a favor, but you also paid for those 100 as well, but you’re not getting those.
The other issue is that some of these publishing companies also don’t believe in what the author has written. They publish for the sake of publishing and don’t publish the books because they think they are going to do well. In addition, because most writers don’t have marketing plans, these publishers highly doubt that an author has the capabilities of selling 100 books, let along the 25 they are being given. Thankfully, there are some self-publishing companies out there who are more honest than others and will truly give you your moneys worth. They may or may not care if you sell 25 books or 100 books but they will give you what you deserve for the money you paid, and have faith that you will selll all your books, regardless of the number.
As is always-Author Beware! Do your research and stay away from those publishing companies who are only out to get your money and provide you with 1) few books, 2) book templates, and 3) keep your rights. As I always so-Your baby deserves better than that!
Until the next one!

Welcome back to another edition of-What You Should Get For You Self-Publishing Dollars-Part 2!
The other day we talk about book covers, but today we will digress from what the book looks like to who should own it. Looking over this contract from the potential client the other day, I noticed that they wanted exclusive rights to her book. Exclusive rights means they own the book and all rights to it. That means that if it’s good enough to be made into a play or a movie they own the rights to it.
Now, maybe it’s just me, but if I’m paying you to publish my book, why should I also have to let you own it? I could see if it was traditional publishing where they spend the money to publish and market you, then they have the right to own your work. I look at it like this? Just because you pay a contractor to fix your house doesn’t mean they own it. Just because you pay the grocery store money for their goods mean they no longer own the food. Even the bank says you own the car or the house once you’ve paid it off. Should Staples own your work because you pay them to make copies? Even a lay away place no longer owns the merchandise once you’ve paid it off, so why should the rules be any different for paying to get your book published? They shouldn’t!
Allowing them to keep what you’ve paid for prevents you from giving your work to a traditional publisher or even switching publishers. I don’t care if they claim they want to own it for two weeks, two days or two years when you pay for it, they shouldn’t own it. I almost feel bad for the writers who feel they have no other options with publishing than to allow this madness to place them in such a tight spot. These publishing companies are acting on the writers emotion and desire to be publsihed as well as the writers lack of research.
Let’s recap: It makes no sense and there is no excuse to pay someone to publish your book and at the same time let them own it. They should publish it and let it go when you no longer want anything to do with them. This means release the ISBN number, but you own the book and the rights. That ISBN number is similiar to your receipt number or customer invoice number from Staples. It provides they provided you a service and in the event that you need more copies or proof of service it is there and there to you no longer desire their business.
Please don’t be duped into giving someone ownership of your book. Do your research and go with a trust-worthy publishing company who doesn’t want to own your baby!
Until the next episode!

Good evening and Happy Columbus Day!

This week we are celebrating-”What you should get for your self-published dollars”
Hopefully, after this weeks series, you will be a lot wiser in how you should spend your self-publishing dollars.

Today’s topic-Book Cover Templates!

I hate templates! I hate templates! I hate templates! Okay, I feel better now! No, I don’t! I hate templates!
The other day, I had a potential client approach me with a book cover sample that a publishing company had sent her. They wanted her to choose one of the templates to use as the cover for her book. When I took a look at the samples, I was floored. It was a template of a screensaver that I have on my laptop. (which by the way I got this year) I went and showed her and needless to say she was also pretty floored. She was about to spend hundreds, even thousands do dollars on a screen saver book cover.
Screensaver Templates are the tip of the iceberg, as some of these self-publishing companies use Microsoft Word Templates. Yes, you heard me correctly-Microsoft Word Templates! There are actual companies that sell Microsoft Word Templates to both publishing companies and authors. They sell is to self-publishing companies who get them for cheap and sell them to you for a lot of money as part of their publishing package.
Most self-publishing companies have no desire to hire a graphic designer or a graphics team. Or, they give the excuse that they publish too many books to be bothered with customizing yet, they are not too busy to take an authors money. ZLS, is both smart enough and lucky enough to have graphic designers on staff, who are either self-taught or college educated, and because we are selective in our publishing, we can customize bookcovers. In addition, we hate templates!
Everyone judges a book by its cover. Whether its a book or with the way you look, you will be judged. Bad bookcovers will not get you in a bookstore 9/10 times and it will definitely not result in large sales. If you think I’m just attacking the self-publishing industry, go take a walk down the aisle of your local bookstore and tell me that oyu don’t stop when a cover catches your eye. As a writer, your book is your baby and you should treat it as such. Would you let your human baby go outside looking like any old thing?
If yes, I will pray for you. If no, it’s the same analogy with your book. Don’t let your book be published looking like any old thing. Spend money on a graphic design or with a company who designs boook covers. It will make the difference in how people see your sales. If you can spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on getting published, you can put some of that money aside and hire a graphic designer. I don’t care if you have to go down to the local college and get one of the graphic design students. That is better than paying money for a book cover template or screen saver.
Also, don’t publish with a self-publishing company that tells you that they don’t have the capabilities to take a book cover you designed yourself. They are lying! Either that or they aren’t reputable because any reputable self-publishing company has graphic design software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Quark or Corel. The industry standard is Adobe, but they should have some sort of graphic design software. As long as you send in your graphic photo in either a png or jpg 300dpi and higher then you should be fine because it is the same standards they are going to send to the printer.
Don’t waste your self-publishing dollars on a self-publishing companies who will only provide you with templates. You deserve better and so does your baby. Learn the process! Learn what a good book cover should look like by walking the aisles of the bookstore. Take notes and make sure your book looks like that or similar cover. You deserve better and so does your baby.
Stay away from templates!