I've had an interesting question come up a few times in the past several weeks. Several of my friends who are thinking about self-publishing have told me they are looking at publishers, but they all seem so expensive.
What? The first time this happened, it took me a little bit to make sure I understood correctly...people are charging to 'help' you self-publish? Apparently that is, indeed, what is happening. So, I decided to post a blog just in case someone else out there is thinking about forking over a huge amount of money to 'self-publish' their book.
I'm not sure how all of these work, but I did receive an email from a company who wanted to represent me. If you receive an offer, read everything carefully! I'm surprised by the amount of people this particular company represents.
In essence, this is the offer they had: All I had to do was commission my own cover art, hire my own editor, and get my formatting done. Yes, they wanted me to pay for all of this. Are you curious what they were offering to do for me? I certainly was. They would kindly put their name as my publisher, upload my book to all the various vendors. I think they might have offered to arrange a blog tour. It actually said something like - for all of this, we will only take 60% of your royalties.
Excuse me? Thank you very much, but if I'm paying for everything anyway, why don't I go through the very simple process of uploading them to the various sites myself and earn 100% of my royalties? Okay, it's not really 100% of what the book makes, but I will take 100% of what the book vendors pays me, not 40%. Also, organizing a blog tour isn't that hard of a process. You can hire a company just to do this. Or, if you don't have that in the budget, it's usually pretty easy to get bloggers to host you. Look around and find bloggers who feature other authors on their blog and then ask them if they would mind hosting you. Many will be willing.
If it is important to you personally to have a publisher behind you and you are willing to pay for all of these things and take this deal, I would just recommend you see how much it is going to cost and weigh all your options. Avoiding the stigmata of "self-published" is worth it to some people, but make sure you read everything and aren't being taken advantage of.
I am fortunate because I have a very wonderful group of author friends who went through everything before me and told me what I needed to do. However, if I hadn't know any better, I might have been taken in by an offer like this, thinking it was what I had to do to self publish. Don't be taken in. You do need the three things that particular place asked me to get on my own, but after that it is a simple process of signing up for an account at the various vendors and uploading your file.
Here are links to instructions at the most common book sellers (USA links):
Amazon Kindle: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help
Barnes & Noble Nook: http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com/pubit_app/bn?t=support
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/about/how_to_publish_on_smashwords
Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/companyinfo/authorsnpublishers.html
If you want a paperback book available, you have two options that I know of, Amazon's CreateSpace or Lulu. I use CreateSpace and have been very happy with the quality of the books. These are on-demand publishers, so they only print books when a customer orders them. They take care of inventory, customer complaints, shipping, everything. You just upload your book (it does need to be formatted differently than a digital book but there are instructions at CreateSpace on how to do this), check it for quality, and set it live to sell.
CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/
Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/
If you are going the traditional route, money should flow from the publisher to the writer, and you should not be responsible for the costs associated with publishing your book. A legitimate publisher will pay for the cover art, editing, and formatting.
Read every offer carefully. Whether you self-publish or go with a publisher, I wish you all luck.
Happy writing, friends. Have a great week!
eeeChantelfff
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
26 comments:
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All I paid for was the cover artist work. Everything else I did myself. It can be done. It can also be incredibly frustrating. Banging head on laptop doesn't help. But there is enough expertise and info out there on the web - you don't need to pay someone.
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
Sometimes banging head on laptop might make you feel better :-) I always say I'm going to through mine out the window - thus, the reason I pay to have much of this done. But yes, a lot can be done on your own. Thanks for commenting!
DeleteGreat post, Chantel. It might be something I consider next year -had no idea there were companies out there offering so little in return for 60%. Sharks! You certainly do need your eyes open.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Suzy
Thank you for commenting, Suzy. I'm so glad this seems useful. I couldn't believe it when I realized this was going on and felt it was worth the warning.
DeleteSo the "publisher" sticks you with all the expense and most of the work in exchange for their taking 60% of the royalties. Such a deal!
ReplyDeleteNo kidding, right? Thanks for reading!
DeleteGreat idea to "warn" others of the shark publishing tricks. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Melinda. I just want to make sure my readers aren't getting taken in by things like that. There is always someone willing to make a buck off other's hard work.
DeleteI paid for my editing and cover art. My husband and I did everything else. Thanks for posting about this. There isn't enough awareness for sneaky publishers out there. 60%, lol for them to virtually do nothing. I agree with you - no thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bonnie. We just all have to be careful. I think especially people new to self-publishing who don't have any guides to know what they should expect. It can be scary the first time and easy to get cheated. Happy writing!
DeleteThere have always been people around to "help" desperate authors at a price. I agree you can do all this yourself, or you can pay others to it for you WITHOUT giving up royalties. I'm a techy and did all my own formatting for the first three books. Then I found someone who would do it for $50 per book and it is worth it to me to pay them. They format for all vendors from Amazon, to B&N, Kobo, iBooks, etc.
ReplyDeleteEven though I'm a techy and have some ability with graphics programs, I do not have an artistic eye. I've paid up to $300 for a cover artist. However, I've recently found someone who does beautiful covers for $25 ebook, $50 print book.
Editing can get costly depending on what you need. If you've NEVER been edited before, you really need someone to be not only a grammar editor but a story structure editor. They run anywhere from $1 to $5 per page. Make sure you get someone with good references. There are a lot of people out there who market themselves as editors because they have a degree in English. This doesn't mean they are good for structure, for genre tropes or for story. Be sure to get references.
Finally, blog tours from great hosting companies run between $50-$100 depending on what type of tour you want.
Bottom line, Not including editing (which I have other resources for) I can get a book formatted, a great cover, and a wonderful blog tour for around $300 per book. That represents average royalties on 100 books. That means after my first 100 books, I am making money.
If you want to know my recommendations, I'm happy to share them. I just didn't want to sound like a commercial here. You can also write me separately at maggie at maggiejaimeson dot com. Do NOT let someone take a portion of your royalties and give you nothing equivalent in return. I call that stealing.
Thanks for the great information, Maggie! Funnily enough, this is what my Wednesday post next week will talk about and I am sharing the places I know of to hire for this stuff. I'll e-mail you and see if I can include your resources with next week's post as well.
DeleteThanks so much for commenting. I think it is important we share what the normal process should be so people who don't know what to expect can do this with more confidence.
Nice post and mostly agree. I'm not sure I agree however with your closing statement that a legitimate publisher should cover all production/marketing costs up front. That landscape has changed considerably.
ReplyDeletehttp;//ezypublishing.com offers a straight forward production and marketing service with one-time fees on the home page, no further commissions taken.
Certainly there are a lot more avenues for authors these days, and with that a whole lot more questionable content hitting the virtual shelves. I suggest that a mix of professional (paid-for) help along with an entrepreneurial attitude from the author is a good combination for the new era on our doorstep.
Thanks for the post,
John
Hi John! Thanks for the comment. I looked at the place you are talking about. I think they provide editing and cover art services, but don't be your publisher and lay a claim to your royalties, right? I know there are companies out there like this that provide services for independent authors, and this isn't what I'm talking about. I'm warning about publishers who are taking royalties from you while doing none of the work.
DeleteJust for everyone else, I know nothing about this company John mentions or what their quality is. Just make sure to read everything carefully before you do anything. Be aware of what, exactly, you are getting yourself into.
Nice post. I've been thinking about this recently. I remember before I met other self-pubbed authors I was considering publishing with Authorhouse (yes, I mentioned a name). Since I had no idea what I was doing, it seemed like the only available choice. They make a tasty website! However, their terms and conditions just didn't convince me... Too much shadiness in my opinion. Plus the fees were incredible.
ReplyDeleteThat was about a year ago, and I'm so thankful to the people at Critique Circle for everything they've taught me! Goodbye sneaky publishers! This girl now knows what she wants!
I'm almost ready to self-publish my first novel, and I know exactly what I'm willing to pay for:
1) Cover art
2) Editing services
3) Book formatting(if I can't manage to do it myself)
I know nothing about Authorhouse - it was a different company who sent me the offer. I know there are many out there. I'm so glad you found Critique Circle though. That is where I learned a lot as well. Great people over there. Sounds like you are on the right track. Happy writing, Nadine!
DeleteI do most of my own cover art so covers are usually under $25. You tube tutorials are free!
ReplyDeleteMost of my titles are back list and out of contract so had already been edited, but I do have an editing deal worked out for new writing that is not expensive, so even with editing I can put a book out for under $100. It does pay to make friends on the internet and I am grateful for my small e-pub experiences for that.
I have learned formatting by the blunder and error method, lol.
I hope this blog reaches writers who are at risk of falling for scammers!
Thanks, Melisse for your comments and help! I really hope it does too!
DeleteI've always loved Preditors & Editors for exposing scams: http://pred-ed.com/
ReplyDeleteOh - fantastic! I didn't know about this web site. Thanks so much for sharing, JKA!
DeleteA timely blog. There are way too many shady operators out there taking advantage of pressured writers. If you don't mind, I'll share this with two writing groups who I know will appreciate it. Keep up the good work. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Eamon, for the comment and support. Feel free to share. I had no clue about this until recently, so the more people aware, the better.
DeleteAn important post, Chantel. A third option for getting a print version of your book is to find a printer yourself. Getting print bids is easy through printindustry.com That's where I found my printer. This approach does require you to print a large enough quantity to make the economics work. 500 at least. The per copy numbers get better at 1,000 and up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this information, Carol. That's great to know. Right now, my budget is too small for this ;-) so the on-demand publishing works, but it is always nice to know all the options. Thanks for sharing!
DeleteGreat post, Chantel. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm still new to the whole self-publishing world, so this is useful information to file away. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kimberly, for reading and commenting. There is a lot to watch out for, and a lot to be done in SP. But, I also am having a fun time with it all! Just want to be sure everyone knows what to be wary of, too.
Delete