Sole Responsibility for Publicity
- Traditional publishing has a lot of advantages. With a good publisher you get a copy editor, a fact-checker, and an indexer, along with professional layout, design and production. You also get distribution into book stores. In exchange you get to keep something like 10% of revenues.
- Self-publishing has these advantages: Self-imposed deadlines only; complete creative control; and you get to keep more of whatever revenue you generate, assuming that you, like me, sell the books yourself. On Amazon.com you keep about what you'd keep with a publisher ... maybe a bit more, but not a lot. You don't get distribution into bookstores.
- No matter how you publish, as author you have sole responsibility for publicity. Publishers only handle this for name authors who have the potential for selling a lot of books.
With subsidy publishing companies, such as Dorrance, you get the copy editor and layout and design professionals as you do in traditional publishing. You get a greater percentage of the sales, usually 40 percent. And you get a basic promotion package that includes sending out news releases and announcements and other promotional materials as well as Internet marketing. You also have the possibility of distribution in bookstores. However, the rule still applies. As author, in the end, you do have ultimate responsibility for publicity beyond what the company has done.
As I have stated many times in this blog, authors are their own best advocates and promoters. No one knows as much about or cares as much about your book as you do. That's why I encourage authors to read all the tips about promotion on this blog and others. It is very important that you develop your own platform; that you use all your contacts in the communities of which you are a part to get out the word of your book; that you speak and make appearances or give workshops; that you send out e-mails and employ viral marketing; and that you make use of the Internet by having your own web page, blog, and social networking presence. With some research and hard work, you can find your audience more effectively today than ever,
During my career, I have worked with authors published by traditional companies, authors published by subsidy companies, and authors who self-published their books. In almost every case where the book was successful, except perhaps for scholarly works or big-name established authors, the secret of success was in the author's skills and dedication to self-promotion.
Categories: Self publishing,Book publishing industry,Niche marketing,Print on demand
I am currently working on two books and will be in need of a publisher. I will not have the time to distribute these or design and do all the things that will need to be done. That's why I will need you.
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Thank you. Someone from our organization will get in touch with you.
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I believe in and use the self-publishing print-on-demand publishing outlet, because it democratizes acess to the publishing marketplace. It allows me to bypass the subjective opinions and personal bias of a traditional publisher in favor of the marketplace itself. It also allows me to participate in almost every material aspect of the publishing process. Self-editing makes me a more disciplined writer. Participating in the marketing and distributing process makes me more sales savy. Market feedback will determine my writing future by encouraging or discouraging future writing efforts.
The savings in costs to the publisher are self-evident and augurs well into making further incusions into the diminishing share of the market held by the Traditional Publishers. It gives the readers access to a greater variety of writers and levels the opportunities. It is clearly the future. To think otherwise is to startle a correct mind and to offend common sense, in my opinion. To the Traditional Publishers I say open your minds or perish.
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