26 Things You Need to Know About Self-publishing a Book
David Carnoy has written a very informative article about self-publishing, told from his own experience in self-publishing a novel with Book Surge. The article titled "Self-publishing a book: 25 things you need to know" can be found at reviews.cnet.com. In it, the author mentions that large traditional publishers have fallen on hard times and smaller publishers are being damaged by the "self-publishing revolution," leaving self-publishing an option very much worth considering for many authors. He says the main advantages are anyone can become a small publisher; you call the shots; retain the rights; and receive a bigger royalty. All true.
Carnoy says it's easy to self-publish and the quality of the printed and bound books has vastly improved. He talks about how the odds of selling lots of copies are against you and that books with niche markets are most successful. He says creating a "professional" looking book is very hard. He counsels on the importance of choosing a great title and utilizing Internet marketing. He urges authors to get really involved in marketing their own books. I agree with all these points. However, Carnoy tells authors to avoid subsidy and self-publishing companies' packages. Yet he advises them to buy professional editing and design services.
Here is where we differ. I think the 26th thing you need to know about self-publishing is it is very hard to handle cover design, book design, copy-editing, book promotion, and marketing by yourself. And this is where full service publishing companies such as Dorrance come into the picture.
Dorrance, RoseDog, and Red Lead, for example, offer a variety of publishing options at varying prices that allow the author to purchase as much or as little professional help in all these areas of editing, production, promotion, and marketing as they desire or can afford. With the convenience of one-stop shopping and one customer service contact, authors can pick and choose from a smorgasbord of services provided by both in-house and freelance professionals. Many authors do not have the time or the contacts, let alone the finances, to secure this kind of assistance on their own. And so while I applaud Carnoy for writing this very helpful article, I just add this one additional caveat. Get all the help you can afford. In the end, I believe you will be glad you did.
Carnoy says it's easy to self-publish and the quality of the printed and bound books has vastly improved. He talks about how the odds of selling lots of copies are against you and that books with niche markets are most successful. He says creating a "professional" looking book is very hard. He counsels on the importance of choosing a great title and utilizing Internet marketing. He urges authors to get really involved in marketing their own books. I agree with all these points. However, Carnoy tells authors to avoid subsidy and self-publishing companies' packages. Yet he advises them to buy professional editing and design services.
Here is where we differ. I think the 26th thing you need to know about self-publishing is it is very hard to handle cover design, book design, copy-editing, book promotion, and marketing by yourself. And this is where full service publishing companies such as Dorrance come into the picture.
Dorrance, RoseDog, and Red Lead, for example, offer a variety of publishing options at varying prices that allow the author to purchase as much or as little professional help in all these areas of editing, production, promotion, and marketing as they desire or can afford. With the convenience of one-stop shopping and one customer service contact, authors can pick and choose from a smorgasbord of services provided by both in-house and freelance professionals. Many authors do not have the time or the contacts, let alone the finances, to secure this kind of assistance on their own. And so while I applaud Carnoy for writing this very helpful article, I just add this one additional caveat. Get all the help you can afford. In the end, I believe you will be glad you did.
Posted by Elizabeth House at 12/31/2008 1:23 PM 
Categories: Print on demand,Book publishng industry,Self publishig,Niche marketing
Categories: Print on demand,Book publishng industry,Self publishig,Niche marketing
Nothing that was said in this article is "newsworthy" or of any real use to struggling authors. Those of us who have "self published" using P.O.D. companies realize the pitfalls. The biggest pitfall is that the P.O.D.'s want a fortune for your book and THEY set the price. No one is going to buy "Corpses and Canyons" by Don Yarber for $15.99 in a bookstore when they can buy "Chasing The Dime" by Michael Connelly for $6.99. The major publishers have a distinct advantage. They can sell books to Wally Mart and Barns and Grovel for peanuts, thus letting those two stores discount their books. I can't buy my book from Book Surge for $10.55 and sell it to Wally Mart for $5.55. I'd soon go broke. So the NEXT step is to publish my next book, "Death and Deep Waters" (the 3rd in the Kip Yardley Mysteries) by buying my own ISBN, formatting the book in PDF and designing a good cover, then having someone like Lightning Press print it. Then I can follow the same marketing techniques I am using now, except that I can sell it to Wally Mart for much less.
Look for my books on www.kipyardleymysteries.com
Don Yarber
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I have written a book and am considering rose dog because it seems cheap and yet offers a strong marketing service. Am I just wasting my money?
Any advice is longed for,
Gary, author of City Boy
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If you believe that you would benefit from professional page and cover design assistance along with support for the promotion of your book and fulfillment of orders, you might find it beneficial to use a service provider such as RoseDog. RoseDog is an imprint of Dorrance publishing so, of course, I am somewhat biased in my opinion. But I think you will find the staff very competent.
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Don Yarber, good point about print on demand books being so prohibitively expensive. An unknown writer will have to charge a fortune, while a bestselling writer will be a few dollars. Who's a reader going to choose?
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I enjoyed the comments of the above writers. I, too am a struggling author who can't afford to have a publishing co. do my work. I write under the name of GRANDMA POLLY. I will try ebay (probably not a good market) and see what happens. I would like to set up a web site,but am too unlearned.
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Depending on your finances, there are a lot of publishers out there. I've look threw a lot of them just have to look out there and decide. I have alot of unpublished books yet myself and money is tight also As to setting up web site, yeah I know what you mean. It's only been a year that I learned how to do a few things on a computer. Do you have some one that can help you do it that might help you to set it up? EBAY told me they can't sell books off their site. I don't know if they were honest about it or not. there are a couple of publishers that do ebooks also but not sure on the price. There are a few self publishing companies out there also. I am a self publishing author of a children's book just published last year Oct.,08. I will soon have another through the same company. I got in on a two for one deal for around $500.00.
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Can you please tell me the name of the company you used for self publishing? I am in the process of preparing my Mother's writings and want a book published in her memory.
Thank you.
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Hello Kathy:
I used BookSurge as my publisher. They are expensive and the after publication support is all by email or web seminars on line. Since I don't have high speed internet (and not much chance of getting it in the near future without expending a lot of money) I am just out in the dark as far as help in marketing my book is concerned. Everything I've done is what I've learned on my own.
If you ae publishing your mothers book just for her memory and not necessarily to sell to the public, then I would suggest going with the least expensive plan.
Good Luck and may God Bless You.
Don Yarber
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Boy, it's great to be reading on a site where people understand the loneliness of writing and the surety that, when all is said and done, THEN the hard work and decision making occurs. I have been pitching my book for the 29 months I have been writing it, have 14 readers and am going to rely MOSTLY on word of mouth. That is how Lovely Bones went from a tiny first printing after several rejections to a whopping best seller on the NY list for close to a year. SO an investment in ME and faith in my story will drive me to find someone with my decided budget of 4000.00 cause I am worth it. My son, a writing major says it could be a good idea to find a good cover and copy THEN pitch it to an agent.
Pamela Lee
writer
Roman a clef manuscript
"call me j."
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I have wriiten a book and and i have sent it to a private editor who is charging me a fortune and is taking time to finish editing.
i really need to know how to go about this whole self publication thing through dorrance.publication.
thanks
AOP.
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Although I have not yet written my book, from the research I've done, Rosedog seems to be the most competant choice.
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I'm happy to hear of your selection of RoseDog. And I am interested in knowing about your research and how you have come to this conclusion.
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