General Information on Self-Publishing and Marketing Your Book

Keep in mind from the beginning that the publisher is the investor, the person or company who puts up the money and takes the financial risk. A printer prints and binds the book. They are paid, often in advance, by the publisher and their responsibility ends with printing.

How to Get into Print

• Big Publisher
  • Advantages:
    • Editorial support.
    • You write the book; they theoretically do the rest (editing, printing, marketing, accounting).
    • Ideally, the checks roll in and you have time to write more books.
  • Disadvantages:
    • It's extremely difficult to get a big publisher to even look at an unsolicited manuscript. You might be more likely to win the lottery.
    • You lose control. The publisher's vision is more important than yours because it's their money.
    • Even if they do accept the manuscript, they may not put much energy into marketing.
    • If the book doesn't sell well quickly, it may well be returned by the bookstores to make room for more profitable titles.
    • Few books sell well. There is a great deal of competition in this field.
• Small publisher. Small publishers have many of the same advantages and disadvantages of large publishers, but may have a more specialized market and a more personal "feel."
• Subsidy or vanity publisher. These publishers run ads in magazines. You pay for the printing and they promise to do everything else. Often they take your money and do nothing else.
  • Advantages: None.
  • Disadvantages: Everything. Don't even consider this option.
• Self publishing.
  • Advantages:
    • You have total control over your vision and the marketing.
    • You don't have to survive all that rejection.
    • You make a lot more money for each book that sells.
    • You don't get tangled in a bureaucracy. You can get things into print a lot faster.
    • You can write off a lot of expenses.
  • Disadvantages:
    • You have to put up the money and take the financial risk.
    • You have to do the marketing and promotion.
    • You have to take care of the business side of things and wear a lot of different hats.
    • You may well be frustrated by the amount of time you have to spend on the business rather than on writing.

To self-publish, you need:

1. An idea. See a need and fill it.
2. A market. Who would want or need your book? Do some market research and consider what would be necessary to sell the book to the people who would benefit from it. To be successful in self-publishing, you must sell your books. Robert Kiyosaki, best-selling author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad said it well. He told an aspiring author once that she may well be a better writer. He's a best-selling author, he acknowledges, not necessarily a best-writing author.

Business Considerations

Form your own publishing company. Some things to consider:

1. Organizational structure. A sole proprietorship is recommended.
2. Financing. Savings, family loans, etc. I emphatically discourage you from using borrowed money. If you're committed to this project, save up and go for it.
3. Taxes. Find out what you need to know about income tax and sales tax.
4. Employee identification number (EIN). Even if you don't have employees, you will need this number to identify your business and file your tax returns. Call the IRS or check their website for information.
5. Bank account. Keep business and personal finances separate. I use duplicate checks and have an envelope in my purse where I put all business receipts with check numbers. They're later filed by month.
6. Bookkeeping system. I use Quicken and it's perfectly adequate.
   1. Income categories: consulting, gross sales, interest.
   2. Expense categories: books, commissions, conferences, copies, cost of goods, credit card fees, draw, equipment, gifts, insurance, legal and professional fees, memberships, miscellaneous, office, postage, promotion, repairs, returns, salary, supplies, taxes and licenses, telephone, travel. These roughly follow Schedule C of the income tax return.
7. Business license.
8. Register company name with the state as required.
9. Business address and phone number.
10. Logo, letterhead, envelopes, business cards, return envelopes, mailing labels.
11. Business plan. Contact the Small Business Development Center for classes and publications on this subject. Get your vision for the business and your future into words. A business plan should include:
    1. concise description of the business
    2. market analysis
    3. marketing plan
    4. information about specific market segments
    5. management and personnel
    6. operations plan
    7. financial data
12. Set up an office, preferably in your home to keep overhead costs down. You can legally deduct a portion of your household expenses. My office includes:
    1. Computer: Macintosh PowerBook G3 laptop
    2. Printer: I'm still using an age-old LaserWriter IINT
    3. Scanner: Epson Perfection 1200S
    4. Copy machine: Canon PC425
    5. Answer/FAX machine
    6. Filing cabinets
    7. Shelves

Book Design Considerations

1. Size of book. 8.5 x 11 or 5.5 x 8.5 are the most economical sizes to print.
2. Number of pages (including front matter). A signature is generally 16 pages, so it is most economical to print in multiples of 16: 16, 32, 48, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 144, 160, 176, 192, 208, 224, 240, 256, 272, 288, 304, etc.
3. Paper. 50 lb. book paper is recommended (same as 20 lb. bond).
4. Typestyle. Serif type is supposedly easier to read in print. Popular fonts are Times and New Century Schoolbook. Stick with one font and vary it by sizing, bold italic, etc.
5. Page design. Consider design elements such as running heads.
6. Binding. Most books are perfect bound. It's generally the least expensive. Other options include wire binding, comb binding, staples, casebinding and Smythe sewn.
7. Cover. The cover should photograph well in black and white. Four color covers are almost necessary for a professional-looking book. 12 lb. cover stock film laminated or UV coated. Consider Lexotone or other printable cloth for a more durable cover. Overruns of the cover are inexpensive sales aids.
   1. Front cover: Title, subtitle, author, etc.
   2. Back cover: Should have list price (approximately 8 times the cost of printing), bar code containing ISBN, publisher's name and address, web site address, price. May have any or all of the following: contents, comments by notables, author photo and biographical information, quotes from reviews.
8. Inside the book:
   1. Title page: title, subtitle, author, company name and address, web site address.
   2. Copyright page: Company name, address and phone number, copyright notice and date, LCCN, ISBN, CIP, "Printed in the USA", mention acid-free paper if used.
   3. Front matter: introduction, acknowledgements, dedication, contents.
   4. Text: illustrations can be line, halftone, or color. Get permission for any copied material.
   5. Back matter: appendix, footnotes, index, coupon for ordering the book.

Printing Considerations

1. Typesetting. You can do the "typesetting" on a computer. Printing is much less expensive when submitted in portable document format (PDF) or "camera ready." I use Microsoft Word, Adobe Illustrator and Aldus Pagemaker.
2. Number of books to print. If you decide to use a regular printer, print no more than 5000, or about as many as you think you can sell in a year. Test sales of your book with photocopies.
3. Request for quote to printers. Ask for shipping quotes as well. Ask for a sample of their work. The prices I was quoted differed tremendously from printer to printer.

Marketing Considerations

1. Reviewers. Review several copies of the book for reviews and promotion. Send photocopies of the book as soon as it goes to the printer to major pre-review sources: Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal, School Library Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times.
2. Listings. Inform Books in Print using an ABI form. Look for other places to get the book listed.
3. Wholesalers. Research wholesalers who might carry your book. Baker and Taylor and Ingram are the largest wholesalers. They require a very large discount.
4. Distributors. I found this to be a losing proposition. I'd rather give the books away.
5. Libraries.
6. Bookstores.
7. Direct sales.
8. Direct mail. I didn't find this to be profitable or worthwhile.
9. Catalogs. My books are listed in several home school catalogs.
10. Discount policy. The policy I use for resellers is: No discount on orders for single books. 2-4 books get a 20% discount. 5 or more books (any mix of titles) get a 40% discount.
11. Promotion campaign. How will you get the news out that your book is available? Consider sending out brochures, copies of reviews, news release. Send to anyone you think might be interested.
12. Advertising. I didn't find this to be profitable or worthwhile. It is tremendously expensive and you have to advertise month after month to get results.
13. Publicity is good. That is when someone else writes about what you're doing.
14. Storage of books. Where will you put all those boxes?
15. Shipping: boxes, labels, invoices, packing slips, packing material.
16. Collections. I have been fortunate that this has not been a big problem.