Another approach has been developed in recent years because of improvements in technology that is often called Print on Demand or Self-Publishing. It is not truly self-publishing because others are actually controlling much of the process for you. Here is the way it works.
You contact the Self-Publishing company (easiest way is through their website) and they will help you get your book printed. You will pay an upfront fee, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending on what services you need. If you choose the minimum, you might as well run down to Kinko’s and copy your manuscript and paste on a cover. To secure the services a publisher would traditionally provide before printing, you must purchase a package that will cost $4,000 to $5,000.
Once the book is designed, pages are laid out, and printed, you can then purchase your own books from the Self-Publisher. The initial order, whatever number you choose, will probably be offered to you for 50% of the cover price. Subsequent orders will cost you more, as much as 70% of the cover price. You can then sell the books and that is when you make money.
Let’s say you are confident you can sell 50 books so you pay the $4,000 fee for the package in order to have a book that is not embarrassing and buy 50 books at one-half the cover price, $7.50. You have now invested $4,375.00 and have 50 books in your garage. After you sell the 50 books, you have $750.00. The purchase price of more books will now be $10.50 each. In order to recoup your investment you will need to sell 972 more books, a total of 1,022 books.
Once again, there must be a better way!
My brother and I established our own enterprise based on the belief and experience that there is a better way. Here is how it works.
You write a book, any kind (we are currently publishing a cookbook and a book about golf), and send us the manuscript. The better shape it is in and the less editing we must do will save you some money. In other words, have several people with good language skills read it and make corrections. We will do everything that is traditionally done by a publisher to get a book ready for print – cover design, page layout, ISBN registration, bar code, editing, etc.). All of this is done in consultation with the author. It is your book and we want it to be an expression of your ideas.
We work with the printer through the entire process of getting the book printed. When it is complete, the books will be shipped to you. You may order books in any quantity you choose. We will help you with this decision by looking at the potential for sales and price breaks in printing. You will pay a fee for design and layout and then purchase the books at a specified price. The difference from the above scenarios is staggering.
Let’s set up another example. You decide to publish a book and you have a manuscript that is good but needs a little editing and proofreading and you have no good ideas for a cover. Much like the Print on Demand folks, we will charge a fee of $3,000 to $4,000 depending on the condition of your manuscript (we will talk about this when you are ready). Here is what you will receive for that initial investment:
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Manuscript Readiness – insure that the final published manuscript is print ready
Manuscript Readiness – insure that the final published manuscript is print ready•Book Design – select the size, type of font, page look, and overall layout of the book that will make it appealing to market, this includes paper style, weight, and finish (in consultation with the author)
Book Design – select the size, type of font, page look, and overall layout of the book that will make it appealing to market, this includes paper style, weight, and finish (in consultation with the author)•Cover Design – Provide a cover design (in consultation with the author) that will capture the intent of the book to make it marketable
Cover Design – Provide a cover design (in consultation with the author) that will capture the intent of the book to make it marketable•ISBN Registration – provide the ISBN number that is required for books to be registered with the Library of Congress
ISBN Registration – provide the ISBN number that is required for books to be registered with the Library of Congress•Copyright
Copyright•Bar Code – provide the bar code that is required by book sellers and other merchants, allowing the book to be placed in stores
Bar Code – provide the bar code that is required by book sellers and other merchants, allowing the book to be placed in stores•Printing – handle all the printing details necessary for offset press
Printing – handle all the printing details necessary for offset press•Binding – handle all the details necessary to secure a proper binding for the book (paperback and/or hardcover)
Binding – handle all the details necessary to secure a proper binding for the book (paperback and/or hardcover)•Make the book available for marketing through online sellers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and others.
Make the book available for marketing through online sellers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and others. •Ebooks – make the book available for users of Amazon Kindle and other ebook versions.
Ebooks – make the book available for users of Amazon Kindle and other ebook versions. •Fill and ship all online orders for the book at a cost of $2.00 per book in addition to the shipping and handling costs.
Fill and ship all online orders for the book at a cost of $2.00 per book in addition to the shipping and handling costs. After evaluating the market potential, you decide that 100 books will be a good starting point. We work with several printers to get the best price (everything we print is professional in look and quality). The price for 100 books might be $4.50 each so that will cost you another $450.00. So far you have spent $3,450.00, but you have 100 books in your garage.
In order to recoup your initial investment, you will need to sell 328 books at a price of $15.00. If you want to lower the cost of each book, it is easy to do by ordering larger quantities, i.e. it is much cheaper to print 1,000 books than 100 books even though they are identical.
Here is an amazing thing! Let’s say you are able to sell 11,800 books as we suggested when describing traditional publishing. Your income, instead of the $8,850 royalty, would be at least $120,000.00. That may not happen (although a book we are currently working on has that potential), but you don’t need to sell that many books to have a nice income from something you have probably already written.
If you want to publish a book, it is certainly worth a discussion for you to consider what we are doing at Austin Brothers Publishing. The world of publishing is changing and we have developed a magnificent way to help you achieve your dreams. Even if you are a published author, you are probably weary of dealing with publishers and agents for very little real profit.
Let us help you turn your thoughts into reality!
