Indie Author Guide Webinars!

I've been a guest speaker for numerous webinars and have found them to be an excellent way to deliver presentations. Now that my book, The Indie Author Guide: Self-Publishing Strategies Anyone Can Use, is coming up on its one year anniversary since release, many of you are hoping to get your books available for sale in Kindle format in time for the holidays, and thousands of folks will soon have completed NaNoWriMo manuscripts and will be looking for next steps, I've decided to launch a series of my own webinars.

The webinars will be offered online, and will be presented with a mix of presentation materials and live chat. No special equipment or phone-in will be required of attendees, and you don't even have to download any software!

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The foundation of my new webinar series is a free, monthly, hourlong Q&A session. This monthly webinar is intended to serve as a supplement to my book, and therefore questions based on specific content from the book will take precedence. However, anyone may attend to get answers to any questions they may have about self-publishing, ebooks, author platform and related topics. The first of these webinars is already scheduled for Sunday, October 2 from 6-7pm PST (9-10pm EST). Register for the free Oct. 2nd Q&A here.

I'm planning to continue this free, monthly Q&A webinar at the same time on the first Sunday of each month, and will promote each webinar in advance on Twitter, Facebook, here and elsewhere.

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In addition to the free, monthly Q&A, I'll be offering more in-depth, webinar training workshops on specific topics of interest to self-publishers.

First up, based on a high level of interest in the topic, will be a webinar on Simplified Kindle Publishing: Step By Step. In this webinar you can get plain English instructions in: how to get your manuscript properly formatted to meet Amazon's Kindle specifications, convert it to Kindle format using free conversion tools, preview the resulting Kindle book (with or without a Kindle) and what to do if there are problems in the file when you preview it.

This presentation is similar to the one I gave at the Writer's Digest Business of Getting Published conference earlier this year, but its content has been revised, simplified and brought totally up to date. If you've got intermediate or better Word skills (can apply paragraph formatting, know how to use Styles, know how to insert a Table of Contents), you can do this!

The registration fee of $24.99 admits you to the 90-minute webinar (approximately 60 minutes of instruction followed by a 30-minute Q&A), during which attendees will also be given access to a free, pdf download of the entire presentation. Why pay for professional conversion services when you can learn how to do it yourself for a fraction of the cost? Get your book out there in Kindle format in time for the holidays, and never pay for professional ebook formatting or conversion services again! This webinar will be held on Sunday, October 9 from 4-5:30pm PST (7-8:30pm EST).

You can register for the Simplified Kindle Publishing Workshop here. Don't delay, as registration is limited to 100 participants. For those who can't attend at the scheduled time, a recording of the webinar will be made available at a discounted price after the presentation.

NOTE: the instruction given in the Kindle Publishing webinar will be specific to Windows PC users, please do not register for it if you are a Mac or Linux user.

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The next webinar workshop will be on the topic of Leveraging Amazon: a survey of all the free marketing and platform tools Amazon offers its authors, how best to use them, and step by step instructions for setting up your Amazon Author page. This webinar will be offered in November, details to follow.

Additional, upcoming webinar workshop topics will include Getting Started With Author Platform, Getting Started With Social Media, and Low- and No-Cost Book Marketing Opportunities. Again, details to be posted here as they become available.

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I'm very excited about this great opportunity to provide you with the tools and skills needed to self-publish and promote your books as effectively as possible, and hope to "meet" many of you in my webinars soon!

Concluding the Series on The IndieAuthor Guide

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 words or less):
I'm taking this blog in a new direction, but don't worry: if you've been following along with the series from The IndieAuthor Guide, you will not leave empty-handed. Just because I'd like to start blogging on other topics doesn't mean you don't get to see the rest of the book.

Go On An' Run Yo Mouth, I Ain't Got Nuthin' But Time Version (can't promise it won't go on forever):
I’ve decided to conclude the serialization of my book, The IndieAuthor Guide, but I won’t cheat my readers out of the rest of the book’s content, and I will still provide it free of charge and with no strings attached. More about that later in this post.

I’m changing direction because I feel there are too many vital topics I ought to be discussing in regard to indie authorship and the state of publishing in general, but I can’t devote much blog real estate to those topics if I continue posting lengthy excerpts from my book. While many of you are very interested in the series from my book, I know some of you are also very interested in those other topics I’d like to discuss. It takes a lot of time and effort to copy content from the book and get it re-formatted to work as a blog post too, and I’m often forced to leave illustrations and graphic elements out of the posts. This problem will only get worse as I move into the chapters on designing your own book cover and promotion. I’d rather just provide the book in its original format, with all of its content intact, and give myself more time to keep blogging regularly on topics of interest to the indie author community at large.

I don’t want to leave anyone who’s been following the series to be left hanging, and I also don’t want to disappoint anyone who comes across the series in the future, so I’m making the entire book available for free download once again. Previously, I posted a link to a Wall Street Journal/Marketwatch article, in which you could find a link to a free download of the entire book in HTML format. The download page was set to expire 12/31/08, but I’m leaving it up through the end of June of 2009—about the time I expected to finish the series if I continued posting an excerpt about every two weeks. Here’s a direct link to the download page.

Some of you may be wondering if providing free copies of the book is eating into my book sales, and that's precisely the type of subject I'd like to tackle—and will!—in the New and Improved Indie Author Blog. So keep coming back for more topical blogging, and more blogging on issues surrounding indie authorship.

In other news, I’m now on Twitter—in case you haven’t noticed the huge, hard-to-ignore tweet box at right—as “indieauthor”. Feel free to follow and/or tweet me!

When The Economy Tanks, It's Time To Publish!

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words or Less)
The serialized how-to series from The IndieAuthor Guide will continue with my next post. Today, I've got some free holiday goodies to share!

Until the end of December you can get a free, electronic copy of my book, The IndieAuthor Guide (a $24 value), and a free upgrade to CreateSpace's Pro Plan (a $50 value). Indie authorship just doesn't get any cheaper. Read on to discover the secret location of the secret link to get the free book.


Go On An' Run Yo Mouth, I Ain't Got Nuthin' But Time Version (can't promise it won't go on forever):
From now through the end of December I'm making electronic copies of my book, The IndieAuthor Guide: A Comprehensive Reference to Self-Publishing And Managing Your Career In Indie Authorship available for free download via MarketWatch, one of the websites under The Wall Street Journal umbrella. Check out Marty Orgel's piece, Free Is Priceless, and look for the link in the 'Books and guides' section of the article. The book is provided in HTML format, readable in any browser (Mac or PC), so no special software or ebook reader is required.

Lots of us are struggling in this tough economy (me, too!), but lack of funds need not be a barrier to self-publishing. Publishing to the Kindle is free, and publishing in trade paperback via CreateSpace doesn't have to cost anything more than the price of a single proof copy (about $5 or less, plus shipping). My book will show you exactly how to do both, step-by-step. Through December 31 CreateSpace happens to be offering a free upgrade to their "Pro Plan", a $50 value that enables you to pay less per page to publish and earn a higher royalty per copy sold, so there's never been a more economical time to become an indie author. If you've got a polished manuscript that's ready for a wider audience, now is the time to go for it!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Joyous Kwanzaa, Serene Solstice, and Happy New Year to all!!!

Build A Manuscript Shell - Copyright Notes, Headers & Footers

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):
The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. In the series, I present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm not covering editing, designing your own book cover, creating your brand or publishing to the Kindle here, since those topics are already presented on my website in the form of free pdf guides. I’ll include links to previous posts in the series here in the Bottom Line It section. So far, I've posted topics on Publishing Options, Rights, Royalties and Advances, What's the Deal With ISBNs And Bookstores, Choosing A Publisher , Getting Organized, parts one and two of DIY Formatting For POD, A Word About Industry Standards, Build A Manuscript Shell - Page Setup and Build A Manuscript Shell – Set Up Front Matter. Today's post is Build A Manuscript Shell – Copyright Notes, Headers & Footers.

Go On An' Run Yo Mouth, I Ain't Got Nuthin' But Time Version (Can't Promise It Won't Go On Forever):

A Note About Copyright
I provide this information here because we've just finished setting up the front matter section of the manuscript shell, which should include a copyright page, and which may be raising some questions in your mind about copyright.

Per the United States Copyright Office, in the U.S. “Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.”

In response to the question of whether or not copyright registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is mandatory in order to receive copyright protection in the U.S., the Office responds, “No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work.”

In response to the question of why a copyright should be registered at all if copyright already exists, the Office answers, “Registration is recommended for a number of reasons. Many choose to register their works because they wish to have the facts of their copyright on the public record and have a certificate of registration. Registered works may be eligible for statutory damages and attorney's fees in successful litigation. Finally, if registration occurs within 5 years of publication, it is considered prima facie evidence in a court of law.”

In other words, a registered copyright affords an author maximum protection in a court of law if he or she should ever need to bring a case of copyright infringement.

Having said that, legal matters are outside the scope of this book and nothing herein should be construed as legal advice. If you are uncertain whether or not to obtain a registered copyright for your work in the U.S., I encourage you to obtain Circular 1, Copyright Basics, from the U.S. Copyright Office website, and confer with an attorney for further guidance. For information about copyright law and enforcement outside the U.S., confer with an attorney versed in international copyright law.

Set Up Headers And Footers
Headers and footers will appear on your chapter pages, but not on the first page of each chapter. This is why you selected the ‘Different first page’ option for headers and footers in the Page Setup section.

In The IndieAuthor Guide, text in the header is right-aligned on odd-numbered pages and left-aligned on even-numbered pages. This ensures the header is always aligned to the outer margin of each page, not the inner margin, near the Gutter. Likewise, in the footer page numbers are right-aligned on odd-numbered pages and left-aligned on even-numbered pages. This is why the “Different odd and even” option exists for headers and footers in the Page Setup section.

Recall that these instructions are based on the use of Microsoft Word™ 2003, but can be adapted to any major word processing program from that year or later. To find the functions named here in a different word processor, just search on the desired item in your program's help files. Also, as with all these posts on the subject of setting up the Manuscript Shell, you may find it's easier to follow along if you open your word processor program in one window and keep this blog open in a second window, then switch back and forth between the two as needed.

If you want the text and page numbers in your headers or footers to be differently-aligned on odd- and even-numbered pages, as they are in many mainstream-published books, you need to insert four placeholder pages in each chapter of your manuscript shell, as detailed below.

Chapter Page, Header Content, Footer Content
1, No header, Right-aligned page number in footer
2, Left-aligned header text, Left-aligned page number in footer
3, Right-aligned header text, Right-aligned page number in footer
4, Left-aligned header text, Left-aligned page number in footer

If your header and footer content will be centered on every page, you still need to insert one placeholder page for the first page of the chapter (which won’t have a header), and a second placeholder page to represent how headers and footers should be formatted on every other page of the chapter. In that event, you can go back and de-select the ‘Different odd and even’ checkbox in the Page Setup dialog.

Begin by inserting placeholder pages, without headers or footers. If you've already set up your front matter per this series, page nine is the first page of your first chapter. Enter the name or number of the chapter and apply your custom chapter heading Style to it. Enter a few carriage returns and a page break.

For header and footer formatting with differently-aligned odd- and even-numbered pages, you must set up three more placeholder pages. On pages ten and eleven, enter a few carriage returns and a page break. On page twelve, enter a few carriage returns and a Next Page Section Break, as described previously. For books with identically-aligned headers and footers, you only need to have one additional placeholder page (page ten) with a few carriage returns and a Next Page Section Break on it.

Set Up Headers
Go back to page nine and select the Header and Footer option of the View menu. The cursor jumps up into the header section, and the Header and Footer toolbar is displayed.

Notice that the Link to Previous button is selected in the Header and Footer toolbar by default---in Word™ 2003, it is always selected by default at the start of each new section you create. Its current setting is displayed in the header or footer onscreen as well. This option should never be selected for your headers, even if you intend to use centered headers, because the first page of each chapter won’t have a header but subsequent pages will.

You don’t want a header on the first page of any chapter. Leave the header blank. The far right button, next to the Close button, is the Show Next button. Click it to go to the header on the second page of your chapter.
The second page of your chapter is an even-numbered page. If the Link to Previous button is selected, click it to de-select it. In a book with centered headers, the header on this page should be center-aligned. In a book with headers aligned like this book, the header on this page should be left-aligned so it will appear near the outside margin of the page. Enter your desired text (book title or chapter title) in the header. Apply formatting options as desired, including desired text alignment. Click the Show Next button.

If your page headers are all center-aligned, you don’t have any more page headers to set up. Click the Previous button to get back to page nine of your manuscript, then skip ahead to the Set Up Footers section on the following page. Otherwise, read on to complete your header formatting.

The third page of your chapter is an odd-numbered page, which means its header should be right-aligned. De-select the Link to Previous button if applicable. Enter the same header text as on the previous page and apply the same formatting, but make the text right-aligned. Click the Show Next button.

The fourth page of your chapter is an even-numbered page, which means its header should be left-aligned. If the Link to Previous button is selected, click it to de-select it. Enter the same header text as on the previous page and apply the same formatting, but make the text right-aligned.

Instead of the Show Next button, this time click the Show Previous button, located immediately left of the Show Next button. Click it two more times to get back to the blank header on the first page of your chapter.

Set Up Footers
Click the Switch Between Header and Footer button, to the immediate right of the Link to Previous button, to switch to the footer.

Again, by default, the Same as Previous button is selected. Click it to de-select it. Insert the page number (and any other desired text) in the footer. Apply desired formatting, including desired alignment. Page numbers will be either centered or right-aligned.

By default, page numbering will display the actual page number of the word processing document. If you want page numbering to begin with “1”, click the Format Page Number button (highlighted above) to display the Page Number Format dialog box.

In the Page Number Format dialog box, click the Start At option to select it and accept the default number setting of “1”. Leave all other options in the dialog set to their defaults and click OK.

On the Header and Footer toolbar, click the Show Next button to go to the footer on the second page of your chapter. Insert the page number (and other desired text, if applicable) and apply desired formatting, including left-alignment of the page number.

That’s all there is to footer setup, regardless of whether or not your footers will be differently-aligned on odd and even pages. Since all chapter pages will have footers, all even-page footers will be formatted the same as one another, all odd-page footers will be formatted the same as one another, and Link to Previous is always selected for a new section by default, you don’t need to do any footer setup for subsequent chapters/sections. Word™ will automatically continue inserting the correct odd- and even-page footers as pages are added to the manuscript.
As for headers, Word™ will continue to insert the correct odd- and even-page headers as you add pages to your chapter, but because you don’t want a header on the first page of any subsequent chapters/sections you will have to repeat the header setup steps for each chapter/section in your manuscript.

An even number of pages (two or four, depending on whether or not you want differently-aligned headers and/or footers) are inserted as placeholders for each chapter/section to ensure the first page of each new chapter/section will always be an odd-numbered, or right-hand, page. This is pretty standard in mainstream-published books, and while I don’t generally kowtow to mainstream conventions this is one case where I do, simply because it’s what readers are used to and have come to expect. Later on, as you type or paste chapter text into your manuscript, you may find the chapter/section ends on an odd-numbered page. If that’s the case, insert a page break to create a blank even-numbered page at the end of the chapter.

The last page of each chapter/section should always be an even-numbered page, and should always end with a Next Page Section Break. After you’re finished typing or pasting in chapter text later, if you find some of your original placeholder pages are still there at the end of the chapter/section, delete any extra, blank pages—but again, make sure the last page of the chapter is an even-numbered page, and that it ends with a Next Page Section Break.
Set up a second chapter/section as you did the first one, inserting and formatting desired headers and footers the same as for the first chapter/section. Two placeholder chapters are enough for the manuscript shell, so we’re done with chapter setup for now.

Up Next: Set Up Back Section

Getting Organized

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):
The series based on content from my how-to reference book on self-publishing, The IndieAuthor Guide, marches on. I can't just copy and paste everything from the manuscript, because the thing is 300pp long and heavily illustrated besides. But I will present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm not covering editing, designing your own book cover, creating your brand or publishing to the Kindle here, since those topics are already presented on my website in the form of free pdf guides. I’ll include links to previous posts in the series here in the Bottom Line It section. So far, I've posted topics on Publishing Options, Rights, Royalties and Advances, What's the Deal With ISBNs And Bookstores, and Choosing A Publisher. Today's post is about Getting Organized.

Go On An' Run Yo Mouth, I Ain't Got Nuthin' But Time Version (Can't Promise It Won't Go On Forever):
Keeping your digital work organized is a critical but often overlooked step in successful authorship. As you work on a manuscript, you need your research, notes and drafts at your fingertips. When you begin iterations of revision, you need to keep tabs on the feedback you receive and make sure that feedback is readily available when you need it. After the manuscript is completely polished, proofed, and “locked” against further changes, you need to maintain separate ‘containers’ to hold the files for each type of release you intend to make available (i.e., POD, eBook, Kindle edition, etc.). Finally, you will want to archive all the files related to former works in progress, as you never know when those notes and ideas will come in handy as you work on some future project.

Hard Drive Housekeeping
It’s essential to set up an organized filing system for all of the writing-related files on your computer. This will save you a great deal of time and energy in the future, when any file related to any one of your manuscripts will be easy to locate with just a few mouse clicks. A well-organized, centrally-located filing system also simplifies and speeds the backup process---which of course, you’re doing regularly, right?

The question of specifically how to organize your files is a matter of personal preference, and what makes sense to you. Most people will have a top-level folder called “Writing,” “Manuscripts,” or something similar. Beneath that, some will create a separate folder for each different manuscript, using the manuscript’s title as the folder name, and then create sub-folders within each manuscript folder to hold each different type of file: rough drafts, notes and research, proofs, eBook versions, etc. Others will prefer to create folders for each different file type within the main, “Manuscripts” folder, and then place files for each different manuscript within the file type folders: all proof versions in the ‘Proofs’ folder, all eBook versions in the ‘eBooks’ folder, etc. etc. My own filing system is a combination of the two.

Within my Writing folder, I have a folder for Completed Manuscripts, Published Manuscripts and Works In Progress (WIPs). Within the Completed Manuscripts, Published Manuscripts and WIPs folders, there are subfolders for each manuscript. Within the Published MSs folder, there are subfolders for each different publisher/format. I also have a Web Presence – Promotion folder with subfolders to store all documents, notes and information related to my websites and promotional activities, organized by promotional activity type (i.e., a folder for press releases, one for each blog, one for my main website, etc.).

Within each manuscript folder in the Completed MSs and WIPs folders, I have subfolders for Correspondence, Current Version (for the most recent version of the manuscript, or in the case of published manuscripts, the final version), Drafts, Excerpts, Graphics (for cover art or any images appearing in the manuscript), Notes (for workshopping feedback) and Research. In setting up your own filing system, try to think in terms of how you will most often search for items it contains in the future.

Email Housekeeping
Just as on your hard drive, a logical, tidy email filing system will save you a lot of time and headaches when you’re desperate to locate a specific note, name or contact information. Just as with your hard drive filing system, your email filing system should be organized in a way that makes sense to you, but there are some overall guidelines that will probably make sense for everyone.

Typically, you correspond with many of the same people about all your different works and it may initially seem like a good idea to set up a separate folder for each of those people, containing all emails you send to, and receive from, each individual. However, if you set up your email files this way, when you need to find a specific email from Susan Editor about your My Super Fantastic Career manuscript it may not be easy to locate among all the other emails from Susan Editor pertaining to all your other manuscripts. I suggest creating a separate folder for each manuscript and storing all relevant correspondence accordingly. Separate folders can also be created for correspondence not specifically related to any particular manuscript. And don’t forget, you need to periodically archive and back up your email too!

At this point in The IndieAuthor Guide, there’s a chapter on Creating Your Brand. I won’t be covering that material here because it’s already available for free viewing and/or download on my website.

Next Time: DIY Formatting For POD, Part One

Enough With The Editorializing, Tell Me How To Publish & Sell My Book Already!

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):

I've been fielding a lot of email questions about the nuts-and-bolts aspects of self-publishing lately. I have written a whole book on the subject, The IndieAuthor Guide, but it would be pretty obnoxious of me to answer each query by saying, "Buy my book and flip to page such-and-such," so I do my best to provide answers when I have them. Still, rather than answering the same questions over and over again in private messages which don't benefit the self-publishing community at large, I've decided to blog a series based on content from my book. I can't just copy and paste everything from the manuscript, because the thing is 300pp long and heavily illustrated besides. But I will present topics from the book to the extent of detail possible in a blog post. Note that I'm not covering editing, designing your own book cover, creating your brand or publishing to the Kindle here, since those topics are already presented on my website in the form of free pdf guides. First up in the series: Publishing Options.



Go On An Run Yo Mouth, I Ain't Got Nuthin' But Time Version (Can't Promise It Won't Go On Forever):

Vanity, Subsidy, POD, Oh My!
The terms “self-publishing”, “subsidy publishing”, “vanity publishing” and “print-on-demand” are often used interchangeably when people speak of self-publishing, but these terms aren’t synonymous. Rather, they describe different self-publishing options or processes.

Self-Publishing
In common usage, “self-publishing” has become a catch-all term. People using it may be talking about subsidy publishing, vanity publishing or print-on-demand (POD), but ironically, they’re rarely talking about true self-publishing. In the strictest sense, self-publishing is exactly what it sounds like: doing your own publishing. This is also known as “desktop publishing,” since it’s generally done with an ordinary computer, or ‘desktop’ computer. Typical self-publishing projects include club or family newsletters, brochures, booklets and research papers, any of which can be created using a standard word processor. There are also dedicated desktop publishing computer programs that enable the user to create more sophisticated and lengthier publications.

Either way, desktop publishing isn’t a workable solution for book manuscripts because binding options are severely limited. Office supply stores and print shops offer several types of binding, and can generally bind up to 300 pages. However, all their binding options are more fitting for reports or business documents than books. The pages may be hole-punched and placed between two report covers, or drilled for comb- or spiral-binding. The finished product will have a binding, but even if you customize the report covers with artwork and a book title, it won’t look like a book. You won’t be able to duplicate the look of a “real” book, which has pages glued or sewn into a wrap-around cover at the spine. Furthermore, having manuscripts bound individually is very expensive.

Vanity Publishing
Vanity publishing is the process whereby an author pays a publishing service to format and publish a minimum number of copies of his book. The publisher usually offers related services on a fee basis, from editing to cover art design and even promotion. The author is essentially paying to have his book printed, and so long as he’s willing to pay the required fee, the publisher will not turn him away. It is because of this fact that as a group, books from vanity publishers are presumed to be of poor quality.

This bias is the primary downside to vanity publishing, but expense comes in at a close second. An author who chooses to go with a vanity publisher must pay all production costs for a minimum ‘print run’ of his book, generally at least 200 copies. Cost per book goes down as quantity goes up, but in most cases the author can expect to pay anywhere from US$5 - $10 per copy for a trade paperback edition and between US$8 - $16 for a hardcover. Multiply those figures by 200, then add hundreds more dollars in flat fees for project setup, optional ISBN assignment, proof corrections, project management and delivery. Add another thousand or two if the author pays for related services.

The third downside to vanity publishing is distribution, or lack thereof. When the print run is finished, all the books are delivered to the author and it’s up to him to store them, sell them, give them away, or otherwise dispose of them. With few exceptions, brick-and-mortar bookstores won’t stock any type of self-published book. They’re particularly leery of books from vanity publishers, all of whose names are widely known in the publishing and bookselling industries.

More recently, vanity publishers have begun addressing the distribution problem by setting up online bookstores to stock their clients’ work, but the sites don’t get much traffic because they only stock the vanity publisher’s books, and again, most people assume those books aren’t very good. Enterprising authors can turn a profit selling their books themselves, on their own website, at community fairs, through direct mail and so on. Occasionally one will even do well enough to attract the attention of a mainstream publisher, but this is very rare.

Lastly, even though vanity publishers are only providing services for a fee, they act like conventional publishers when it comes to contracts and rights. As part of the publishing arrangement, the author will be required to sign a contract granting certain, exclusive rights to the publisher. The contract may stipulate that the author cannot publish the same work in the same format, or any other format, for a set period of years. In this way, the publisher ensures the author must go back to the same publisher to order additional print runs if the book is successful enough to sell out its first print run. The contract will also specify whether or not the author can buy his way out of the contract before the term is up, and if so, what it will cost. This stipulation lines the vanity publisher’s pockets in the event a mainstream publisher wants to publish the book.

Subsidy Publishing
Subsidy publishing is virtually identical to vanity publishing, except that subsidy publishers will not publish every manuscript submitted to them. Instead, they accept submissions (sometimes for a fee) and choose the manuscripts they wish to publish. Subsidy publishers sprang up as a legitimate self-publication alternative to vanity publishing. Subsidy publishers aren’t all created equal, however. Some are hardly more discerning than vanity publishers, while others are so selective as to rival mainstream publishers.

The worst subsidy publishers are ripoff artists par excellence, assuring every prospective client her manuscript is a diamond in the rough that is practically guaranteed to become a bestseller if she will only pay for professional editing, artwork, promotion, and other services—all of which just happen to be offered by the publisher or a company referred from the publisher. The best subsidy publishers truly strive to distinguish themselves by putting out quality books and dealing fairly with authors, but even in that case the author must contend with all the same downsides as she would face with a vanity publisher. She must pay for a minimum print run and related services, she must sign over at least some of her publication rights in a contract, and she faces all the same distribution challenges as a vanity-published author.

Print On Demand
While vanity or subsidy publishing is fine for a book with a built-in customer base, such as a textbook published by a college professor for use in his class, Print On Demand (POD) is the best way to go for an author who intends to sell her book to the general public. As with vanity publishing, an author who chooses POD is essentially paying for printing services. There is no selection process on the part of the publisher. Also as with vanity and subsidy publishers, POD companies may offer related services for a fee, and the published books aren’t likely to be carried by brick-and-mortar stores. That’s where the similarities end, however.

There is no minimum print run to order and pay for with POD because the publisher stores POD books in digital format. Individual copies of the book are printed and bound by automated systems “on demand”, meaning each time an order for the book is received. The author doesn’t pay to have on-demand copies produced. Instead, the printer keeps a share of the book’s price to cover its production costs and pays the remainder to the author as a royalty.

POD publishers may offer services related to publishing for a fee, but they are also prepared to accept print-ready files from authors. This is where the author can save thousands of dollars, by doing as many of those related tasks as he can for himself instead of paying for services. Some POD publishers don’t even charge set-up fees. In that case, the only expense that must be shouldered by the author is the cost of proof copies, which must be printed in order for the author to review the book before approving it for publication.

With a POD publisher, the author retains all rights to his work. If there’s any contract at all, its terms are limited to the details of fees, royalty payment, services provided and the responsibilities of each party. If your publisher requires you to order a minimum print run or sign over any of your publication rights, it’s a subsidy or vanity publisher. Most POD publishers have distribution relationships with major, online booksellers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, through which the bookseller agrees to sell the POD publisher’s books on its website. Some POD publishers only offer this as an optional service, and only for a fee. Another service some POD publishers offer, always for a fee, is ‘guaranteed returns’, whereby brick-and-mortar stores are allowed to return any unsold copies of POD books to the publisher. This is supposed to encourage brick-and-mortar stores to carry POD books, since many cite ‘un-returnability’ as a reason not to carry them, but in reality the centralized purchasing departments and computerized inventory systems of chain bookstores present obstacles at least equal to concerns about money lost on unsold copies. My previous blog post, Big Chain Bookstore Death Watch, provides rationale enough not to invest too heavily in courting big chain bookstores.

All POD publishers can print paperback books in various, standard sizes, both in black and white and full color, but only some of them can print books in hardcover editions. When the hardcover option is available, the production cost for it is much higher than that charged for paperbacks. Since an author who goes the POD route can still opt to pay for certain related services as desired, vanity and subsidy publishers have no advantages to offer the typical indie author. Why pay stiff fees upfront, warehouse your books, and sign away your publication rights if you don’t have to? POD book production is also 'greener', in that no books are printed until they're bought and paid for by actual customers. There are no crates of returns going back to the publisher, no overstock being marked down or remaindered, no unsold copies headed for the dumpster.

Next Time: Rights, Royalties and Advances

Big Chain Bookstore Death Watch

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less):
In a Random House/Zogby poll released May 29, queried about their habits over the past year, 77% of respondents said they’d bought books online, 76% said they’d bought books in big chain bookstores, and percentages ranging from 16-39% named other outlets, such as supermarkets, drugstores, airports and big box stores. In other words, respondents were just as likely to buy books online as from a big chain bookstore. Asked to specify the single retail outlet from which they’d made most of their book purchases, 68% named retailers other than big chain bookstores. The breakdown is: online – 43%, chain bookstore – 32%, independent brick-and-mortar bookstores – 9%, other retail outlets – 16%.

If you’re an indie author who’s invested considerable time, money and effort trying to get your books into Borders or Barnes & Noble, or has paid higher production costs to a publisher in exchange for listings with these two chains or Ingram’s catalog, you might want to rethink your strategy. If you’re an as-yet unpublished author who has avoided self-publication primarily because the publishing mainstream has you convinced big chain presence is critical, and you know those chains are averse to stocking self-published books, it's time to reconsider.

Go On An’ Run Yo Mouth, I Ain’t Got Nuthin’ But Time Version (Can’t Promise It Won’t Go On Forever):
If you’re still focusing significant efforts on raising your visibility in Borders or Barnes & Noble, or if the difficulty of getting your self-published book into these chains is a major reason for your refusal to self-publish in the first place, the results of a Random House/Zogby Poll released May 29 will be a real eye-opener.

When asked to name the one type of retailer from which they most frequently bought books in the past year, 43% of respondents said online, 32% named chain bookstores, and 9% specified small, independent bookstores. A specific breakdown isn’t provided for the remaining 16%, but that 16% definitely aren't buying most of their books in chain bookstores. Some quick math on these numbers shows that 68% of respondents buy the majority of their books from outlets other than chain booksellers. Conversely, only 32% of respondents buy the majority of their books in chain bookstores.

In the same poll, respondents were asked to name all the places they’d bought books in the past year. Outlets most often named were online retailers (77%), chain bookstores (76%) and independent bookstores (49%). In other words, respondents were just as likely to buy online as in chain bookstores, and nearly half are also buying from independent booksellers—retailers generally more receptive to carrying indie books. Drug stores, supermarkets, warehouse clubs, big box stores and airports were also named, in percentages ranging from 16-39%, but retailers such as these usually only carry current bestsellers, discounted/remaindered titles, and gift books, so they’re not typically receptive to carrying self-published works. Parse these figures any way you like, but the truth is unavoidable: chain bookstores no longer dominate the bookselling landscape, and in fact are losing ground all the time. None of this should be surprising, and in fact it’s just a case of retail history repeating.

Do you remember precisely when you stopped going to chain music stores like Musicland, Licorice Pizza and Tower Records, and why? For me, a music fan with eclectic tastes, most often looking for artists not represented on Billboard’s charts, the birth of online retailer CDNow (later absorbed by Amazon) was the beginning of the end. No brick-and-mortar store could hope to match CDNow’s selection or prices, and if I wanted something really obscure, I knew I’d sooner find it at an indie/used record store than a chain store. For people seeking chart-toppers, the widening selection of music available at discount stores, big box stores and warehouse clubs like Target, Best Buy and CostCo sounded the music chains’ first death knell.

Department and discount stores couldn’t match the selection of a dedicated record store, but it didn’t matter because their customers were only interested in the most popular current albums, greatest-hits collections and compilations of past hits. Not only could these retailers easily offer a good selection of these low-risk offerings, they could price their titles lower than those in dedicated record stores. Record stores responded by diversifying their product mix with the introduction of videogames, VHS movies and eventually, DVDs, but it was a hopeless strategy built on an already failing business model. There were simply too many other places to get these same items more conveniently, at a lower cost, and in the case of online retailers, with a wider selection. By the time digital downloading became a mainstream phenomenon thanks to Napster, the iPod and iTunes, it was merely the last nail in a coffin already built by other powerful market forces.

Compare this death of an entire industry to chain bookstores’ current situation. Greater selection of books can be had online, at lower prices? Check. Bestsellers, gift books and discount books can be bought more conveniently at other stores, for lower prices? Check. Obscure and out-of-print books can only be found online, or in indie/used bookstores? Check. Attempts are being made to diversify product mix by introducing DVDs, CDs, toys and other products, but none of these products are being offered at lower prices or in a wider selection than through other, pre-existing retail outlets? Check.

Now, explain it to me again: why do publishers and writers continue to believe big chain bookstores still have the power to make or break careers in authorship? Why do indie authors invest in catalog listings with companies like Ingram, or choose to work with higher-priced self-publication outfits on the basis of that outfit’s ability to get catalog listings? True, without the listing your book won’t be accessible to the big bookstore chains’ corporate purchasers, nor those of any other major chain retailer that is not an Amazon affiliate (i.e., Best Buy, WalMart), but none of them were ever likely to stock your book anyway. Most of an indie author’s sales will be from efforts and outlets that aren’t in any way dependent on, nor even necessarily helped by, catalog listings. Worse yet, paying for catalog listings or working with a costlier publisher typically forces an indie author to raise the retail price of his book. This makes the book less attractive to all potential buyers while forcing those who do buy the book to subsidize the cost of its exposure in retail markets that are both small and generally outside the indie author’s reach anyway.

The bottom line is this: even if you succeed in getting a big chain bookstore to carry your self-published book, the maximum market segment you can possibly capture there now stands at 32%, and it's shrinking all the time. Does it really make sense to let 32% of book buyers dictate your choice of whether or not to self-publish, or your choice of publisher, or if you've already self-published, claim the bulk of your promotional resources?

The IndieAuthor Guide Is On Sale Now!

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 words or less):

I received my proof copy of The IndieAuthor Guide yesterday and approved it today, getting it listed for sale at the CreateSpace store just under the wire for publicity from Book Expo America over this weekend. And I'm offering my blog and website readers who buy the book from CreateSpace between now and the end of June a 20% discount code to use during checkout: 25HKCF3B . After all, if we were rich we wouldn't have to go all DIY and wouldn't need the book in the first place, right?

Don't think I'm advising anyone to rush a proof into release with only a cursory review, however. The book received a very careful, line-by-line copyedit before I submitted it to the printer to order a proof. I'd solicited for a 'fresh eyes' review of the ms, to check for major formatting errors only, but the wonderful author who took on the task did an incredibly thorough job anyway. I'd name her here, but don't want her to be buried in an avalanche of email requests for the same favor. She knows who she is, and knows she has my utmost gratitude. =')

(No Run Yo' Mouth version again...need to get hopping on promotion for this new release)

Turning A Release Date Frown Upside Down

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 words or less):

I've been working very hard to get my new book, The IndieAuthor Guide, into print in time to reap the benefit of BookExpo America publicity over the last weekend in May. Due to publisher delays (apparently they’re busier than last time I worked with them, because the time it takes to get a proof copy has doubled), my genius plan to have the book on my site and ready to buy ahead of BookExpo was dashed. I knew some kind of 'come back in a week or two, three at the latest, because by then I swear my new book will be available' message wouldn’t cut the mustard. Getting ‘em to your site is hard enough; if they don’t find what they want on that first visit, good luck getting ‘em to come back.

Behold, my new genius plan: I put a ‘coming soon’ message on my website, along with the offer of a 20% discount code for anyone who emails me asking to be notified when the book is released. This strategy may net me more sales than if I had gotten the book out on time, and I'll have some idea of demand for it early on.

(once again, no Run Yo' Mouth version...too exhausted to write!)

The Publisher Has No Clothes

Bottom Line It For Me, Baby Version (200 Words Or Less)

Selling a book used to mean four things: a respectable advance, a respectable promotion budget and effort, your book would appear on store shelves, and your publisher would gladly publish anything new you had to offer. Thanks to industry consolidations, just 6 media megaconglomerates now dominate American publishing, and they are bottom-line focused with a vengeance. In an industry that has historically, consistently seen profit margins ranging from 4-8%, media megas are determined to squeeze out 15% or more. They don't want books they predict will bring in typical 'midlist' sales (5-40,000 copies), so they don't buy so-called 'small' books from new authors, nor from authors who've been raking in steady, reliable sales for years. Now, for all but celebrity, bestselling and prestige clients, advances are paltry, promotional budgets and efforts are nonexistent, there's no guarantee your book will appear in brick-and-mortar stores, and your publisher won't want your next manuscript unless the one they just bought sells more than 40K copies. This deal could only be more unattractive if authors also had to deliver coffee to the publisher each morning, yet aspiring authors everywhere continue to grovel at the feet of the media megas. WHY?!


Go On An' Run Yo Mouth, I Got Nuthin' But Time Version (Can't Promise It Won't Go On Forever)
From where I sit, there are far more reasons not to sign with a mainstream publisher than reasons to sign with one. They've killed the midlist, they've adopted Hollywood's blockbuster marketing model, they've chipped away at advances and promo budgets for all but their prestige and bestseller clients, and now that Borders is reducing its in-store stock by 20% to display more titles face out (a move they've reported has led to a sales spike, so you can bet it'll be rolling out to B&N too), big publishers can't even guarantee a new author's book will be shelved in brick-and-mortar stores anymore.

What's astonishing is the fact that so many aspiring authors still see mainstream publishers as the gold standard in authorship and are willing to give up so much---even risking their entire future careers by putting all their literary eggs in one basket with that first manuscript sale, betting their future prospects on the slim chance their book hits big in spite of DIY marketing and poor exposure---in exchange for some kind of perceived status. The emperor clearly has no clothes, so why don't more of my peers see it too? To be sure, bestselling authors have their publishers to thank, in large part, for their careers. But given that bestselling authors make up maybe 1-2% of all published fiction writers at any given time, we've all got as good a chance of hitting the lottery as entering that rarified group. And if we don't enter that rarified group, we would've done better if we never published anything with a big house to begin with. Lemme break it down for you:

First off, it's widely accepted that only about 5% of all manuscripts submitted to publishers get contracts, and marketability/screenplay-likelihood is as large (or larger) a factor in rejection as quality of the work nowadays. Maybe 25% of that 5% is made up of manuscripts from famous, prestige, or previous-bestseller authors, and these will get the lion's share of attention, advances and promotional budget. The rest will get paltry advances of a few thousand dollars, which sounds all right until you realize that's your payday for the past months or even years of work you put into writing the manuscript. It's less attractive still when you realize the publisher's sole contribution to marketing your book will be promo copies, and you'll have to spend most or all of your advance on marketing. Have fun trying to sell your book, because the publisher can't guarantee it will be shelved in brick-and-mortar stores, and doesn't even want to broach the subject of audiobook or ebook editions until or unless some worthwhile sales figures come in. "Worthwhile" to these folks are sales on the order of more than 40K copies, and if your book doesn't cross that threshold the publisher (and all its imprints) won't want to publish you again. Talk about a vicious circle. Compounding your misery, you're facing an uphill battle in trying to sell future manuscripts to any of the other 5 major publishing conglomerates because you'll be viewed as damaged goods.

Some of us will make it, and the risk will have been worthwhile for those few, but all the other authors who get a contract will find their celebrations short-lived. I'm truly baffled by the 90% of aspiring authors who stay in the hunt for a prize they've only got a 5% chance of getting in the first place, which more often than not turns out to hurt the author more than help him or her. What up with that?!