Blog: Mel's Muse - The Book Publishing Process Laid Bare

Posted: Sunday, 8th February 2009

Photo: Author, Mel Menzies, at a Book Signing

Revised: January 2011

What do you do if you’re an aspiring author but can’t get your novel accepted by an agent or publisher?  You’ve been to every creative writing course available, read everything you can lay your hands on about writing and publishing a book, and followed up every lead - including the old boy in the Post Office who published a book on railway timetables via Agatha Christie’s gardener’s aunt and now knows all there is to know about the book publishing process.  You’ve trawled through the Writers’ & Artists’ Year Book, marked up every agent and publisher who deals with your genre, sent out your three chapters and an SAE, spent a fortune on padded envelopes and postage – FOR NOTHING!  You feel like throwing in the towel – together with the manuscript, your computer, the lot!  Stuff ‘em all!

HOW TO GET A BOOK PUBLISHED

Believe me, you are not alone.  My other half and I had dinner with a charming couple yesterday evening.  She had been at a book signing / talk I had given locally, and asked if I would be willing to speak to her husband.  As they live only a few houses up the road from my daughter’s home (and the sea views are stunning from there) we happily agreed.  The husband has written four novels and, despite every effort, has been unable to find said agent or publisher.  He wanted to know how to get a book published.

If this describes your experience, read on.

If traditional publishing fails, there are four other ways of bringing your work before the public.  They are:

1. Vanity Publishers.
2. Self-Publishing.
3. Print On Demand Publishers.
4. Blogging / e-books.

So what is the difference between each, and does one have the edge over the others?

VANITY PUBLISHERS

I have only one word to say: DON’T.  It will cost you huge sums of money.  The promises made to you regarding sales are unlikely to be met.  Unless you want to produce a product for a very few family members and are willing to splash out mega-bucks, you will be hurt, angry, disappointed, and impoverished.  Jonathon Clifford, who was invited to address the UK’s House of Lords on the subject, has written about this in The Writers’ & Artists’ Year Book.  http://www.vanitypublishing.info/

SELF-PUBLISHING COMPANIES

Self publishing cannot, actually, be described as a single service. True self-publishing means that you will be taking the place of the publisher.  In that role you will need to do your own typesetting, get quotations from printers, artists and book cover designers and book-binders.  You will need to get your own ISBN (the International Standard Book Number) which identifies YOU (as the publisher) and your book in a unique, internationally recognisable code. 

Put together, these activities will require huge amounts of effort and money.  You will almost certainly have to order your book in large quantities to keep the costs down sufficiently for you to make a decent mark-up.  This, of course, means that you will also have to store them.

Does self publishing work?  For some, yes.  G.P.Taylor, author of the bestselling fantasy novel Shadowmancer (there’s a good write up on Amazon) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadowmancer-G-P-Taylor/dp/0571220460 wrote about his experiences of storing and mailing thousands of copies of his book.  And he was, eventually, taken up by Faber.  (More about marketing on another occasion)  Well-known novelist, Susan Hill, also self-published, setting up longbarnbooks.com to do so.

PRINT-ON-DEMAND PUBLISHERS (POD)

What is print on demand?  Easy!  It does exactly what it says on the tin.  Books are printed singly, or in multiples of your choice, all at the same price.  You do not, therefore, have the problem of a big financial outlay; nor that of storing large quantities of books. 

Instead of having to traipse around getting quotes from different printers, book-binders etc. you can make a simple comparison between the increasing numbers of print on demand publishers undertaking this new technological approach to publishing.  Details of a few of the better known companies are as follows:

AuthorHouse:

WHAT IT COSTS YOU: Set up Fees: $1,567.00

EXTRA COSTS: $500 to complete in 1 month.  Photos and graphics charged extra.  Charges to return your files to you if you choose to leave company.

COMPLETION: 6 months.

 

iUniverse – now owned by AuthorHouse:

WHAT IT COSTS YOU: Set up Fees: $699.00

WHAT YOU GET: 5 “free” copies

EXTRA COSTS: Photos and graphics charged extra.$300-£1,500 to retrieve your files if you choose to leave the company. 

COMPLETION: 3-4 months.

 

Lulu:

WHAT IT COSTS YOU: Set up Fees: $839.00 (less if submitting own cover)

EXTRA COSTS: For many services

 

Trafford:

WHAT IT COSTS YOU: Set up Fees: $1,844

 

Xlibris:

WHAT IT COSTS YOU: Set up Fees: $1,323

WHAT YOU GET: 5 “free” copies

EXTRA COSTS: $349 for 2 monthly completion, plus charges for photos/graphics

COMPLETION: 4-6 months

 

Booklocker:

WHAT IT COSTS YOU: Set up Fees: $517 ($317 if submitting own cover).  Only $99 for returning authors on second and subsequent books.

WHAT YOU GET: 1 proof copy.  35% royalty on public sales; 15% on wholesale orders.

EXTRA COSTS: None. ISBN included.  No extra charges for graphics.

COMPLETION: < 1 month.

For further details of this company see: http://publishing.booklocker.com/

SAVING THE BEST TILL LAST

As you can see, I’ve left the best till last.  And as I have experience of this company, I can vouch for the service.

1. You get one-on-one service from Angela.  She and her husband, Richard, own the company.
2. You get help with any problems you may encounter in uploading your material.
3. Costs are all inclusive.
4. UK customers’ orders are fulfilled in UK and shipped from UK, hence reducing shipping costs.
5. The product (i.e. the book) is of excellent quality: clearly printed on good, white paper.
6. If your POD book is taken up by a mainstream / traditional publisher, there are no severance fees to be paid to Booklocker.  You own your files at all times.

RELATED CATEGORIES: For further reading, click links below

WRITING & PUBLISHING A BOOK

OTHER CATEGORIES: Click links below

ARTICLE WRITING & BLOGGING      
BOOK REVIEWS & BOOK CLUB DISCUSSIONS      
CREATIVE WRITING TECHNIQUES
BEREAVEMENT
DIVORCE, REMARRIAGE & STEPFAMILIES (STEP PARENTING)
FAMILY & PARENTING
PERSONAL GROWTH & RELATIONSHIPS (inc Personality Test & Drama Triangle

Do let me know if you have had a good or bad expereience of any of the above companies. Although comments are now closed on this post, I will write an additional article to alert others to the merits / disadvantages of your findings.

Articles on related themes: Books, Reading & Words; Writing & Publishing A Book;

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Comments for this post are now closed. Thanks to all who contributed.