Having gained significant experience of print-on-demand self-publishing by publishing his own books using Lulu.com and CreateSpace, and by offering publishing assistance services to other authors, Tony Loton now shares his experience with you in this completely revised and updated second edition of… BOOK PUBLISHING DIY Packed full of tips, tricks, and real world experience, this book shows you how to: * format your manuscript in Microsoft Word or another word processor. * create a high quality book cover using Microsoft PowerPoint or a simple paint program. * publish your book as a print-on-demand paperback using Lulu.com or CreateSpace. * publish your book as an Amazon Kindle e-book. * sell your print and e-book editions from your own web site or blog. * sell your book via retail web sites including Amazon with an ISBN. * take payment of your revenues and royalties. * reach your target audience through effective marketing. You can be a publisher!

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The basic business model of the book publishing industry remained largely unchanged between the Great Depression and the turn of the Millennium. Print a lot of books, try to get them reviewed so that stores would stock them on consignment, advertise, then hope that they don’t come back as returns. Small imprints and self-publishers were reduced to begging distributors to accept their titles at discounts of 60% or more, and were expected to accept returns in any condition and quantity. Print-on-demand book publishing, combined with short-discount distribution and Internet marketing, is turning the publishing business on its head. For the first time, authors are finding that they can launch their own publishing businesses and earn more from their writing than they would with a major trade publisher. Small imprints can invest their scarce resources in acquiring, designing and promoting new titles, rather than gambling on tons of books that cost money to keep in inventory. This book det

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When authors receive rejection after rejection from agents and publishers, they may decide to take matters into their own hands and self-publish their works. Many authors, however, choose to self-publish because they want to be in control of the publishing process, not because they were unable to attract a book publisher.

If you’re thinking of publishing your own book, you need to learn everything you can about the publishing business. Although many authors choose one of the vanity presses that call themselves “self-publishing companies,” using one of these publishers to produce your book is not truly self-publishing.

Print-on-demand (POD) technology allows authors to self-publish their books at a reasonable cost. The print on demand method helps to reduce the cost of publishing by only printing and shipping books as they are ordered. Although POD printing is used by many of the vanity presses, dealing with a POD printer and publishing with your own ISBN makes you the publisher.

One of the most important aspects of self-publishing your novel is knowing how to market it. This knowledge can mean the difference between selling a few books or thousands. Your marketing efforts need to be well-planned and  professional.

If your promotional materials contain typos and misspelled words, what does that say about the quality of your book? Make the best possible impression on media, reviewers, book sellers and others by paying as much attention to your marketing materials as you did to your manuscript.

There are many online discussion groups for the various genres of fiction. Locate the groups related to your genre and get involved with them. In addition to attracting fans and book buyers, you will learn what people like to read and may discover ways that you can target your work to a larger audience.

When communicating online via email or in forums and discussion groups,  always include a “signature file” or “sig file.” A signature file is a pre-written block of text that is automatically attached to your message. Your signature file should include information about your novel and where the reader can purchase it. Link to the book’s page on Amazon.com or the page on your website where readers can buy your book. You might also include links to your blog or social media profiles.

Many authors choose to self-publish their first books to establish a track record. If you successfully publish and market your first novel, it may be easier to attract a traditional publisher for your second and subsequent novels. Of course, after successfully self-publishing, you may decide you do not want or need a traditional publisher.

Learn more about writing and publishing novels and selling books here at SellingBooks.com.

Some call it just plain ”publishing.” Others claim to have self-published their books when they use Publishing on Demand (POD). Actually neither designation is completely correct. Yes, it is a kind of publishing, but a very special kind. It is not self-publishing, a process that differs substantially and requires far more expertise and involvement.

POD is an outgrowth of the huge changes that occurred in printing technology when digital printing was developed. For the first time, authors were not forced to use offset printing with its minimum press runs of 1500 to 2000 books. For the first time, an author could order only the number of books he/she needed with this new technology, and was able to fill in small quantities as future needs arise. This was a great boon for beginners who were feeling their way in the publishing industry and for memoirists who wanted to distribute books just to family and friends.

The novice writer enjoys the advantage of having the POD house handle all of the prepublication work that is required to produce a book. And that service is available at a very minimal initial outlay of money for the services one receives.

For a production payment of as little as $300, the house will produce a finished book and in most cases do it extremely professionally. The high end of that scale—a ceiling of about $1,000—represents lots of bells and whistles that the house will try to sell you, but which frankly are of little or no value. You can receive a top quality book for an average investment of under $500, and that’s the level you should be at when dealing with this method of publishing. Use the company’s basic program, nothing more.

The Process
You turn your manuscript over to the POD house, along with an initial production check. In return, the house art staff produces a professional book cover. That alone would normally cost you anywhere from $300 to $600 if you were to hire a designer yourself.

The text that comes off the computer, of course, is not what appears in a finished book. It must be formatted to conform to the page size, produced in a type font that is conducive to easy reading and leaded (spaced between the lines). This requires a high level of skill. You can learn to do it, but I strongly recommend a professional formatter. The cost depends on the length of the book. Formatting a 300-page volume, for example, can cost between $800 and $1200.

Every book requires an ISBN number if it is to be sold to bookstores or libraries. This is an identification number that is assigned exclusively to a single book. Barcodes are needed to accompany the ISBN. In addition, Library of Congress Cataloguing is a necessity if you plan to tap into the huge library market. All of these are obtained for you by POD staffers.

The POD House will then print your book, bind it and register it with a major wholesaler (usually either Ingram or Baker & Taylor), a requirement if you are selling to libraries and bookstores. The book will also be placed on Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com and Borders.com. Further distribution and promotional activities are your responsibility.

Be Aware
Two words of caution: Most houses do not obtain a copyright for your book. But that’s not a serious problem. You can do it yourself for just a few dollars. Search for “Copyright” on the Web. The government’s copyright web site will come up and explain each step you must take. It will also supply you with a formal application form. Completing everything is perhaps a 15-minute task and very easy to accomplish.

The second matter you should be aware of is that when the ISBN is ordered by most POD houses, it is listed in the house’s name. You must understand that the entity that owns the ISBN controls all of the finances of the book. So when you read in the publicity, “You control the book. All decisions are yours,” it is a bit misleading. Don’t construe this to mean that you lose total control over your book. It is yours by copyright.

In fact, on the finance side, you do have the right to decide how much of a royalty (percentage of the profit of the sale of the book) you wish. But the reality is that when it sells your book, the house will insist upon taking a certain flat amount, which is usually quite substantial. As a result, if you select a high royalty, the retail price will shoot up above the competition. With a lower royalty, you will make very little money. Nonetheless, at any level of royalty, you have managed to publish your book with no more money out of your pocket than the initial production fee. That’s a pretty fair deal for what you’re getting in return.

The only negative, aside from the minimal compensation, is that there is still some reluctance to handle POD books on the part of the better book reviewers and some book sellers. This a carry-over from the old days of the vanity press, when the level of quality was so poor and from the sloppy, haphazard work y turned out by the charlatans who infected the POD world when it first began.

Today most of the reticence has faded. People judge POD books not by the publisher that produced them, but by the quality of the book itself. POD creations have reached the best seller lists in some cases, and they are available through the majority of bookstores. Even if they are not stocked on the store shelves, they can be ordered quickly.

Finding a POD House
Most POD publishers maintain web sites. Click onto “POD Publishers,” and you will find a number of them. Read their sites carefully, and discount the meaningless extras (the bells and whistles I spoke of above). Be extremely careful if you go to contract. Study the document before you sign or better yet ask a literary lawyer to review it. Think ahead. What impact will each of the conditions of the contract have on the sales of your book. How easily can you leave the POD house and either self-publish future editions or contract for them with a traditional publisher?

While I am reluctant to evaluate the different houses that I have not used, I leave that task up to others. There are a number of sites that make these evaluations. The one I recommend most strongly is www.bookmarket.com/ondemand.htm. The site is owned by John Kremer, a highly respected publishing guru, and supplies information on a large number of publishing on demand houses.

Another site I recommend to you is www.sfwa.org. This extremely informative site is maintained by the Science Fiction Writers of America, but its information is applicable to all genres. Although I do disagree with the site’s contention that POD is not the best choice for a beginning writer, I find the rest of its counsel excellent.

Click on the site, scroll down to the box near the bottom that states “Writer Beware.” Click on it. Over on the left side of the next screen, you will find “Print-on-Demand, Self-Publishing Services.” Click on that, and read it carefully.

POD publishing may not be ideal for every author, but it is a worthy alternative for beginners, family memoirists and in fact anyone who strikes out with traditional publishers and and has a burning desire to make his/her book available to the public.

This column is an excerpt from the blog of Charles Jacobs, book coach and author of “The Writer Within You,” named a Best Book of the Year seven times and winner of both gold and bronze medals. The book can be ordered at www.retireandwrite.com. For coaching, Charles can be reached at carosbooks@gmail.com.

Print on demand publishing is an easy, fast and inexpensive way to publish your own book. However, unless you promote it is unlikely that you will sell more than a few copies. Heather Wallace can help you to sell more books, with the helpful information in her book, POD Publicity – How to Take a Print on Demand Book from Obscurity to Profitability.

In POD Publicity, Wallace takes authors step-by-step through the process of publishing and promoting a print on demand book. She recommends reading the book from beginning to end, rather than skipping around, and doing so provides a sequenced plan to effectively publishing and marketing your book.

After a foreword by publishing guru Dan Poynter,  Wallace explains why POD is the right choice. She starts her how-to right at the beginning, addressing issues such as cover design and title choice. Your book’s image will play a big role in any promotions, so design and title should not be taken lightly.

In the chapter on Building Your Web Presence, Wallace discusses blogging and provides a checklist of what should be included in your online media kit.

Because online sales are so important in selling your print on demand book, Wallace gives many suggestions for effectively presenting your book on Amazon.com. Amazon wants you to sell books, and they provide many tools to do so. POD Publicity shows how to make use of the easy and free ways to promote your book on Amazon.

The largest section of the book covers publicity. Wallace explains how to go beyond the press release to use the Internet to pursue publicity opportunities, including finding and approaching book reviewers, article marketing, writing guest posts for blogs, and more.

In the Networking Works chapter, Wallace suggests several ways to use social media to promote your book. And in Alternate Formats, she offers how to make your book available for Kindle, as an ebook and as an audiobook.

POD Publicity is not the most comprehensive book on book promotion. However, it is an approachable, easy to read guide with actionable steps that will not overwhelm the new author. Anyone considering producing a print on demand book will get useful information that will help them to make their book successful and profitable. A small investment in this book can save you from making costly mistakes, and help you sell more books.

Get your copy of POD Publicity!

I recently caught a broadcast on my local NPR station from American Public Media about the troubled book publishing industry.

The most recent trend is that bookstores are ordering more books than they could ever sell because they are trying to compete with online book stores. They fear, according to the report, that if customers cannot find what they are looking for, they will go home and order the book online. Their fear is justified – after all, the average big box bookstore like Borders can stock approximately 100,000 titles while Amazon can list millions.

While book publishers may be rejoicing over increased orders, the orders are really a double-edged sword because the bookstores can return any books they don’t sell after 90 days.

To add to the problem, some bookstores are returning books before the 90-day window, waiting a week and then ordering more books. Now they have another 90 days to pay for the books and whatever they don’t sell they can return without losing a dime, according to the broadcast. More evidence that the publishing industry’s consignment model no longer works. Add to that decreasing book sales and you have a formula for disaster.

An article in  Yahoo News on the Book Expo of America held May 29 – June 1 in Los Angeles reported that more than 276,000 new titles will be published this year, according to researchers R.R. Bowker, but the Book Industry Study Group expects the number of books purchased to decrease.

So what is the future of publishing? Whether publishers like it or not, the future lies in digital content and print on demand (POD).  Publishers will be forced to print fewer copies of new titles just from the economics of their business model. They will have to turn to POD printers for the shorter print runs. While most traditional publishers do not embrace POD because of the higher cost per book and quality issues, the reverse is happening.  The cost per book is going down and the quality is going up.

Printing fewer books is in sync with the explosion of digital content on devices like the Kindle, Sony’s Reader Digital Book and the iPhone. With the Internet generation getting older, they may want to read more than an email or a text message and will prefer digital content over printed matter having grown up with computers and the Internet.

Just as the music industry went kicking and screaming into the digital age with the 99 cent per song business model (They are still kicking and screaming over it), the publishing industry appears to be on the same path, inundating bookstores with more books than the market can bear until they realize they need to change.

Anthony S. Policastro has been writing all his life first as a journalist, editor, and professional photographer and then as a freelance writer with his work published in The New York Times, Oceans, Diversion, and American and Popular Photographer magazines. He was also the editor-in-chief of Carolina Style magazine, a regional lifestyle publication similar to Southern Living magazine with national distribution. Currently he serves as the Senior Business Analyst for Lulu.com, the world’s largest online self publishing company with more than 1.8 million authors in 80 countries.