Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
HOW TO GET
YOUR BOOK
PUBLISHED
LUCY McCARRAHER | JOE GREGORY
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PURPOSE
UNDERSTAND
BIG PUBLISHERS
LITTLE PUBLISHERS
INDIE PUBLISHING
SCAM SELF PUBLISHING
HYBRID PUBLISHING
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Many first-time authors who have written a great book, stumble at the point of publication,
with the result that all their hard work simply sits gathering dust.
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PURPOSE
Why do you want to publish your book? You need to know this in order to choose the right
publishing path for you and your book. Most people who write a business or self-help book
want to publish for one or more of the following reasons:
XX Share your knowledge / expertise / creativity
XX Kudos
XX Authority thought leadership and competitive advantage
XX Credibility raise your/your business value
XX Leverage generate leads and use the book as a marketing tool
XX Longevity / Legacy
XX Fame and fortune
Whats your reason for publishing?
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Once you know why youre publishing a book, you can choose a publishing route that gives
you the best mix of Control (creative, rights, income) and Credibility (reach, profile, esteem).
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THE PUBLISH PATHWAY
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Indie DIY
Publishing
Hybrid
Publishing
Scam Self
Publishing
Big or Little
Traditional
Publisher
CREDIBILITY
HIGH
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UNDERSTAND
There are currently three main paths to getting your book published:
XX Traditional / Legacy Publishing
XX (Do it Your) Self Publishing
XX Hybrid/Supported Publishing
Confusion is often caused by some, usually unscrupulous, Supported Publishers calling
themselves Self Publishers. This is a misnomer. A Self Publisher (or Indie Publisher) is an
author who has taken the time and trouble to project manage all aspects of the publication
process (often outsourcing key tasks) and has purchased their own ISBNs effectively
becoming an independent micro-publisher in their own right.
Before we look at each publishing option in detail, its worth understanding whats involved
in the publishing process.
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THE PUBLISH PATHWAY
1. Book production
3. Book marketing
2. Book distribution
4. Book admin
Editing, proofing
Preparation of manuscript
Design of inner, typeset
Cover design
Printing
Online retailers
Wholesaler listings
Bookshops
Shipping & Storage
Specialist markets
Positioning
Author events
Media
Social media
Advertising
ISBN
Reporting sales
Paying royalties
Updates
Hassle
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XX Upfront print runs (typically 3,000 copies+ for first time author)
Production (Modern)
Print-On-Demand
Ebook
XX Quick setup
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Distribution (Modern)
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Traditional Publishers
The traditional publishing business model is for the publisher to contract the author to
publish their book. The contract may include the publisher buying the copyright of the
authors intellectual property for a defined period of time, which may limit the authors
freedom to use their material for other purposes.
The publisher may though this is a diminishing practice pay the author an advance:
money in advance of publication that will be recouped by the publisher from the authors
royalties from sales. Many authors never actually earn their advance back in other words
the only money they ever see is the advance which, unless they are a famous author or
celebrity, on an hourly rate of payment for their work is probably lower than the minimum
wage. Paying advances which are not recouped are simply a massive financial drain for
traditional publishers, so increasingly only big name authors are receiving them.
A big traditional publisher is likely to pay an author 8% to 10% of net receipts from sales of
their book (after production, printing and distribution costs, and less the discount payable
to wholesalers and retailers); this can be as little as 20p from the sale of an average-priced
book. Smaller publishers, especially those who only use print-on-demand distribution,
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may pay a higher royalty. Bookshaker, which operates as a traditional publisher, pays a
generous 2030% of net receipts royalty.
The traditional publisher then takes all the financial responsibility for getting the book
published, including usually: editing, proofing, design, inner design, typeset, cover design
and printing. Traditional publishers, as well as publishing through online retailers like
Amazon, will probably produce an up front print run (usually from 1,000-3,000 copies
more if youre an established author with a sales track record) of the book, and distribute
it through physical bookstores. This, however, is becoming increasingly expensive and is
often only profitable for well-known authors or other best-sellers where publishers can
invest in in-store merchandising (either paying for this directly or offering a huge discount).
The bigger publishers can use their high selling books to subsidise the distribution of
new authors, but smaller traditional publishers may not choose to risk funding print and
distribution costs of a new authors book.
Distributing a book through online retailers (or for backlist titles) is now often done
through print-on-demand. This is a different and comparatively new printing process
through which very small print runs (as low as one copy at a time) can be produced at a
reasonable price, as they are ordered by purchasers.
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It is true that the quality of print-on-demand (POD) books is slightly lower than offset litho
(traditional) printed books, but POD technology and costs are improving all the time. POD
allows publishers to avoid risking money on printing books in advance of sales and cuts
down the risk of having unsold stock returned or pulped.
Apart from the cost of print, storage and shipping, selling books through physical bookstores
is often unprofitable for publishers, and therefore authors, because retailers mainly insist
on stocking titles on sale or return. Any unsold books will not be paid for, and must be
returned to the publisher at their own expense, or simply destroyed. Bookshops may give a
book six weeks to make a decent amount of sales before returning them to the publisher to
make shelf space for more lucrative titles.
If a book doesnt perform well, a mainstream publisher will abandon the marketing and
distribution to focus on new titles and the authors book ends up being sold for pennies
(often less than the physical cost to produce it) in remainders stores.
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BIG PUBLISHERS
Traditional publishers include the big name, international publishers that everyone
has heard of, often known as The Big Five (the number keeps decreasing as they keep
amalgamating or buying each other up). Each one owns a range of imprints devoted to
different types of fiction and nonfiction, including self-help, books.
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LITTLE PUBLISHERS
There are also a wide range of smaller, independent traditional publishers, often with their
own niche in nonfiction and self-help publishing.
The distinguishing trait of traditional publishers, of any size, is that they dont charge an
upfront fee, but instead keep a larger share of the royalties and rights.
XX Mostly Print-On-Demand (POD) means online sales focus, and limited bricks-andmortar bookshop distribution
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Author Gains
Kudos
Free editing, design,
production
Bookshop distribution
Some marketing
Specialist distribution (eg
academic, schools)
Author Loses
Time
Rights, ownership
Control of design, look
Low cost author copies
Royalties on sales
Freedom to sell, market,
promote, leverage
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production of your book and if youre lucky or famous, they may even give you an
advance. (However, given the level of competition for publishing contracts, many
authors choose to pay for a professional edit before submitting their manuscript to
an agent or publisher.)
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contract. You may think youre only signing over rights to one book but you could
end up signing over your future work too.
XX Loss of Ownership Many large publishers will stipulate that they own the rights to
your work in other languages, territories and formats. Be careful what youre signing
and ensure you know your rights. You could end up watching your publisher get
rich while you remain unrewarded.
XX Lack of Marketing The average mainstream publisher organises distribution, puts
your book in their catalogue and puts out a press release. These days, as an author,
and whichever way you publish your book, marketing and promotion is 100%
your job. Even if youre a big name celebrity or you have just come off the back of a
best-seller (which you will have had to work hard to promote), your publisher still
wont be able to do the interviews or your social media for you. You have to be the
spokesperson for your book and that means youre going to need to hustle.
XX Loss of Profit As the publisher has taken all the financial risk to get your book
published, you will be paid the mouses share of the proceeds from your book sales.
If you have used an agent (often the only way to get into a big publisher), you will
have to give 10% to 15% of your income to them. In fact, the publisher will pay your
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agent, who will pay you after theyve taken their fee. Trying to land a good agent can
be just as difficult as landing a publishing deal. Agents add an additional layer of
time, control and cost to your publication.
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XX Loss of Time and Opportunity Until you start selling books the whole process
is still a cost-money exercise; you could spend more money and time chasing a
publishing contract or agent than if you just self-published, and in the gap, who
knows how many opportunities you may have missed.
XX Lack of Speed Publishing behemoths are full of really talented people, but the
organisations themselves are slow, cumbersome and full of political, financial and
shareholder pressures. This all leads to a long delay between landing a deal and
selling any books. Typically it takes a year from delivering your manuscript (in
addition to the time taken approaching then signing with a traditional publisher)
for your book to be out and selling.
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XX If your goals include fame and kudos, and youre willing to give away control and
the lions share of the profit for this, keep reading (UNDERSTAND).
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XX Dont send unsolicited manuscripts, especially if the publisher explicitly says not to.
Theyll likely destroy it unopened and ignore you in future. Publishers do this to protect
themselves from law suits from snubbed authors who might believe their great idea got
stolen and used. If they never saw it and never read it theyve got a great defence.
XX Find out what a publishers submission guidelines are and follow these to the letter
to present your detailed synopsis, but ignore their rules about not chasing up (as
long as you do it in a friendly and assertive way). Still, you should give them plenty
of time because they really do have to deal with loads of enquiries just like yours.
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XX Ignore the old etiquette of only offering your book to one publisher at a time (and
waiting obediently for them to reject it). Instead choose your top five publishers and
send your synopsis to all of them. If you end up in the fortunate position of having
two or more publishers interested you can play them off against each other.
XX Dont tell a big traditional publisher that youve already written your book. At one
time they used to add value by planning the book with their author; although these
days they rarely have the budget or resources to do so, they still follow the same
process. Smaller traditional publishers are more interested in completed manuscripts.
XX Include in your proposal information about the extent of your author platform
(website, blog, social media, client base, speaking and other events) and how it will
help you market and sell the book. This is massively important to traditional publishers
(remember they only make money by selling books) and is a clue that, even with their
marketing department, they expect the author to be the key marketer of the book.
XX Have realistic expectations. Forget the days of huge advances and be happy if you get any
advance at all. Expect 7% net in royalties as the norm and dont expect them to move
from this position unless youre willing to give something else up. Dont expect much (if
anything) in the way of marketing support. If they want to pay you a one-off fee but no
ongoing royalties then you wont get wealthy this way reconsider your options.
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DIY Self-publishing is an option for authors who are willing and able to take on the hassle
and work involved in publishing their own book.
It appears at first glance like the best financial option: do all the work yourself, so avoid
paying out any money for publication; hang onto all your rights; keep all the royalties from
sales etc. Its also true that even a complete publishing newbie with awful distribution can
still make more money per sale by self-publishing.
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However, if you want to be the author of a book that builds your profile and can help grow
your business, your brand and your reputation, then your book needs to look as professional
as a traditionally published title.
This option is really akin to starting a micro publishing business and the work involved will
definitely take you away from your core business. So, ask yourself, is doing this the most
profitable use of your time and talents?
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Author Gains
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Full control
100% sales revenue
Lowest cost author copies
Timing and Flexibility
Leverage (with quality)
No money wasted on
physical distribution
Author Loses
Kudos
Upfront costs
Time: learning curve, project
management, ongoing admin
Physical distribution
Some online distribution
Marketing support
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XX Lack of Marketing Even more than working with any kind of publisher, as a selfpublished author, marketing and promotion is 110% your job. You have to be the
social marketer, PR agent and spokesperson for your book and that means youre
going to need to spend time hustling.
XX Hidden Costs It is possible to self-publish an e-book for almost no cost to you,
but to publish a printed book means you have to buy a minimum of 10 ISBN
numbers at the very least. To produce a professional looking e- and print book, you
will really need to pay an editor and cover designer; a typesetter will also make the
inner of your book look better and more readable than you can; and converting
a professional typeset to various e-book formats might also involve a skilled
professional.
XX Skills Gap Ignoring the mechanics of self-publishing a book and all the knowhow required from getting ISBNs, choosing print-on-demand or print-then-sell
approaches, billing and accounting for the income, you will also need many, often
disparate skills, such as editing, graphic design, typesetting, proof-reading etc.
Unless you have all these skills, the only way to do a good job is to pay experts. This
increases your outlay and, as youre ultimately responsible for every aspect of the
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final product means, if you get it wrong you may have to pay again. Its not unheard
of for self-publishing projects to go way over budget when you take a piece-meal
approach to getting the job done.
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Some of these self-publishing giants, despite their poor reputations, have recently been
bought up by big traditional publishers, apparently in order for the latter to cash in on the
new publishing business model. Authors are told that if their book does well under the selfpublishing imprint, they have a chance of being published by the traditional imprint. We
have yet to hear of a high profile transfer of this kind.
In addition to straightforward lack of editorial standards or a genuine willingness to make
the book serve the author, another common trick is the expert compendium. This racket
involves you, and many others, being charged a high price to appear in a book (one chapter
only) alongside a well-known name in your industry. These programmes are all about
selling a high-cost opportunity and books to the authors featured. Theyre absolutely not
designed to raise your profile or make you an income from sales. In addition, because the
books produced in this way often feature your competitors, have no joined up theme and low
editorial standards, the result is a that book damages rather than enhances your reputation.
Authors should always check out self-publishers (and any publishers whom they are going
to pay for services) before working with them. Look any candidates up on the Editors and
Preditors website, www.pred-ed.com; Google disputes, complaints or problems along
with name of company and see what comes up; try to find at least one author who has
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worked with the company, if it hasnt been recommended to you by one. Make sure you talk
to the main person you will be working with; the person responsible for project-managing
your book. If they cant or dont answer any questions to your satisfaction, beware. Similarly,
if they try to upsell you anything you didnt plan, want, need or budget for, look elsewhere.
Finally, check the contract you are offered by a hybrid publisher with great care. At Rethink
Press our contracts are for the non-exclusive right to publish your work in book form in the
English language for five years. We do not take control of your intellectual property or restrict
your ability to use your own material in other ways. If you wanted to end the contract early
for almost any reason, we would release you from it, believing that an agreement with an
unhappy author or negative relationship is not worth the paper its written on. Some authors
who have published with big self-publishing companies have found themselves unable to get
released from contracts they thought they had flexibility with.
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The Claim: If You Pay to Publish with Their Self Publishing Imprint You Might
Get a Proper Contract With The Big Publisher Behind It.
XX Same basic offering as other Preditor Publishers
XX Pearson/Penguin/Random House owns Author Solutions
XX Author Solutions owns: iUniverse, AuthorHouse, Xlibris, Trafford and Palibrio,
FuseFrame, PitchFest, Author Learning Center , BookTango etc.
XX Author Solutions runs self-publishing arms of big publishers: Archway, Balboa,
Partridge etc.
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HYBRID PUBLISHING
There are many terms, at the time of writing, for the kind of publishing that offers a bridge
between traditional publishing and self-publishing: supported publishing, paid-for publishing,
subsidised publishing, partnership-publishing, platform publishing etc.
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Rethink Press was founded because Bookshaker (our small traditional publishing business)
had to turn down too many well written, interesting and valid self-help books that we were
either unsure would sell well enough to take the risk, or that that fell outside the areas we
had defined for the Bookshaker imprint.
We were offered many books we liked, but which would have too small a market for us to
be sure of making our investment back. Many switched-on, entrepreneurial authors realise
that book sales alone isnt the point of a book for them. They often have a broader business
case for writing and publishing a book, including:
XX Raising their profile and authority
XX Opening new doors and opportunities
XX Leveraging the book as a 24/7 lead generator
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However, a traditional publishers business model relies entirely on book sales volume,
which causes a mismatch between entrepreneurial authors and many traditional publishers.
We realised this and so canvassed some of our prospective authors. We found that many
were prepared to pay for author services in order to get their books published by reputable
professionals, under a quality imprint.
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Our Rethink Press authors, and those who have published with other hybrid publishers, do
not want to jump through the hoops of chasing a traditional publishing contract with the
uncertainty, delays and loss of control and income.
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Neither do entrepreneurial authors wish to spend time getting to grips with the technicalities
of publishing themselves or sourcing and project managing the experts required to do a
good job. They realise the value of outsourcing the publishing so they can focus on their
core business.
In essence, entrepreneurial authors want a professionally published book, published in a
short time-frame to underpin their platform of niche expertise. They understand the value
of control, speed and quality but also realise a successful book is about much more than
copies sold.
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One problem with hybrid publishing is that, in some circles, it has been tarred with the
brush of the legacy practice of vanity publishing and scam self publishing. Reputable
hybrid publishing companies are entirely transparent about their costs and contracts, and
provide authors with only the services they need and want.
In fact, a good hybrid publisher will insist on high standards and may even tell you, your
book isnt ready for publication yet.
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Author Gains
Author Loses
Some kudos
Money up front
Some royalties
Active bookshop distribution
Marketing Department
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IF they sign up with a PREDITOR
PUBLISHER: quality, royalties,
credibility, maybe money
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XX Quality If you choose well, you can be assured the end product is high quality and
professional. Aside from the limitations of the POD print process employed by most
hybrid publishers, the typeset, design and quality of your content should be top-notch.
XX High Royalties As you have taken a lot of the upfront risk of publishing your
book, your hybrid publisher should be paying you higher royalties.
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or more) at a decent price. This means you only need to keep stock of a small
quantity of books and you can top up stock at any time. Any hybrid publisher
pressuring you to buy huge quantities of books may be hiding something.
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XX Distribution Although your book may be listed with wholesalers (from whom
physical bookstores order stock) it is more unlikely to find its way onto many
bookstores shelves unless it is your supportive local bookstore, or a customer orders
your book through a bookshop.
XX Predators There are self-publishing companies who regularly take money from
first-time authors, deliver poor services, publish low quality books and badger their
clients with upselling offers for additional services, some of which like marketing
or PR packages deliver no value. All authors should check out any potential hybrid
publishing company before they sign contracts with or pay money to them.
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SUMMARY
As the barriers preventing experts writing and publishing a book continue to fall, we believe
that an expert who sets up in business is increasingly expected to have a book that sets out
what theyre about. Just as a website is now a basic requirement of anyone seriously in
business, a book is also becoming a prerequisite of your claim to expertise.
Key Points
XX Be clear about what you want from publication of your book; then make realistic
choices.
XX Not everyone wants, needs or will achieve a traditional publishing contract there
are real benefits to other forms of publication.
XX What do you want to do yourself; where is it worthwhile to pay for support?
XX Check out hybrid (paid-for) publishers: do due diligence and talk to other authors.
The ease with which you can now get published also provides a unique risk. If you publish a
bad book (the gatekeepers are all gone) that is off-message and poor quality you could end
up regretting the impact it has on your reputation for years to come.
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So, now you know why youre publishing a book and which path provides the best mix of
Control and Credibility (see page 5) really make sure what youve written is something youll
be proud of now and in the future.
We wish you good luck with publishing your business or self-help book. If you want to ask
our advice, were happy to give you more information.
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Lucy McCarraher is the author of 7 books and runs hybrid publisher Rethink Press. She has
worked across many publishing disciplines, including running Australias most successful
theatre magazine. She works exclusively with KPI (Key Person of Influence) London as their
Publish mentor and has coached hundreds of people through the challenging task of writing a
book. One of Lucys greatest strengths is enabling clients to write clearly, powerfully and quickly.
Joe Gregory is an author and publisher who started his first business, a marketing consultancy,
at the age of 19. Since 2003 he has published over 250 books by industry experts, coaches,
trainers, consultants and business owners who understand the power of books to bring
business. Joes greatest strength is in ensuring an authors book becomes an integral leverage
tool for growing their business, raising their fees and building their authority.
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