Independent Book Publishing

When I decided to self-publish my new book, The Successful Home Business Guide, I did not  realize how large a fraternity I was joining, or what the statistics were in the book publishing trade. It’s probably a good thing or I may not have tackled the project.

According to bookstatistics.com while there are only six major publishers we all recognize, such as Random House, there are more than 80 thousand book publishers in the United States. Foreword Magazine offers the grim statistics that  of the 3000 new titles published EVERY DAY, over 79 percent will sell fewer than 99 copies! It’s no wonder that Borders and other large book chains employ stringent selection practices and will only purchase through a small number of distributors and wholesalers.

Despite the numbers, I’m convinced that writing a book for home business owners was the right and timely thing to do, and that self-publishing will get the book to market much quicker than had I tried to elbow my way into one of the major publishers. But I certainly have my work cut out for me. Can anyone spell “book tour?”

The bright light is the ease in which a book can be listed on Amazon.com. Set up an account, upload the necessary data and graphics, and pay an annual fee of just $29 and a self-published book gets equal “shelf space” as books from Simon and Schuster.

Will Limkemann
www.doublewarepub.com

Self Publishing

Over the past few months I have tried to absorb so much information about publishing I think my head is about to burst! As for most subjects, Google returns thousands, if not millions, of hits for just about any keyword relating to publishing. There are also many books on the subject, the best of which I have found, is Day Poynter’s Self Publishing Manual, 16th edition. Having writing and self-published over 120 books, Dan seems to know what he is talking about. If you are considering self publishing, go no further until you have written Dan’s book.

Book publishing seems to fall into these realms:

1. Traditionally books have been published by major companies who contract with a writer, handle the cover and book design, do the editing, have the book printed, and get it into distribution. In return, the author is paid a royalty on sales. Publishers are looking to sell substantial volumes, so if a book doesn’t sell more than 5000 copies within the first year, it will probably be dropped.

2. Vanity press is the route many people take when they just want to get in print to impress family and friends. They contract with a vanity press which will handle design and production and print a limited number of copies for a fee.

3. Print on Demand presses are a step above vanity presses in that they will print a few or many copies and claim some distribution capabilities. An up-fron fee, along with marketing and other fees are paid during the process.

4. Self-publishing is the process where an author actually controls and contracts for all aspects of the publication process from acquiring an ISBN number (the number and bar code on the back cover), to editing, to cover design, to book design, to printing, to distribution. Self-publishing is actually a good option for an obscure author who is up to doing all the work of a publisher, wants to be in control, and get the book to market early. Self-publishing is the route I decided to take in publishing my new book, The Successful Home Business Guide.

No matter what route is taken, it is really up to the author to promote the book. While writing a book can be tedious and time consuming, the real work begins in marketing and promotion.

Will Limkemann
will@limkemann.net

New Book

Today I will receive the first printing of the book I alluded to in some prior posts. So I think this is a good time to explain what the book is all about. The title really says it all: The Successful Home Business Guide: Practical advice for starting and operating a productive and profitable home-based business.

The idea for the book took form from the convergence of many of my early blogs and my work with COSE on its Home Network advisory board. As the winter progressed I also had a strong sense that a book on profitable home businesses makes a lot of sense as an increasing number of unemployed people are searching for non-traditional means of earning an income.

Initial research showed that there are today over 20 million home based businesses contributing over $350 billion to the US economy, which accounts for a significant percentage of workers. The further question in my mind was to what extent the businesses are really productive and profitable?

So, in my book, I tried to cover all the bases from starting a business to closing it, with all the information one needs to fund, market, sell, collect money, price goods and services, hire employees, and survive in a home environment in between.

In order to publish the book I considered several options, including the traditional publishing route. Current research confirmed my past experience that a) it takes several months to negotiate a deal with a major publisher; b) once the manuscript is in the hands of a publisher it takes an average of 18 months for the book to be published; c) the author is expected to market and promote the book. So the option I chose was to self-publish, a growing trend among relatively obscure authors who don’t mind doing the leg-work.

So over the past five months: I’ve written the book, had it edited by the wonderful Carolyn Jack, designed the book and cover, and contracted to get it printed. As I explained a few days ago, I’ve also written a marketing plan. All great and exciting stuff. I’ll let you know how it all turns out.

The Successful Home Business Guide will be available at amazon.com.

Will Limkemann
440-871-0976
will@limkemann.net

Self Publishing

In a recent post I alluded to a book I am writing. I’m happy to report that the book is complete and was delivered to the printer yesterday.

Today, and as this project unfolds, I’m going to talk about self-publishing as a business.

Many years ago my first book, a technical tome called “Application Programming in CTOS” was published by Prentiss-Hall. In total only 600 copies were sold – the royalties of which did not come close to compensating me for the time it took to write the book. Poor sales were the result of 1) A narrow topic with limited appeal; 2) An elapsed time from manuscript submission to publication of eighteen months; 3) No marketing.

In learning more about the publishing industry I have discovered that publishers typically take eighteen months or more after spending several months negotiating the book deal, and that it’s up to the author, not the publisher, to promote the product (unless you have a celebrity name or a blockbuster book).

So, as I set about to write “The Successful Home Business Guide” my priorities were to 1) write a relevant book with significant appeal; 2) self publish in order to compress the publication schedule, control the process, and hang onto the profits; 3) promote like crazy.

To date, in addition to doing the writing, I have engaged an editor who did a terrific job in editing the manuscript, been assigned an ISBN number, designed the book and cover, and negotiated to have the first run printed. Currently I’m in the process of completing a marketing plan and writing a sell sheet and other marketing material. It’s been, and will continue to be, an interesting process. I’ll keep you informed of the process and results.

A book that has given me great insight into self-publishing is  Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual. I highly recommend it to any author wanting to bypass the mainline publishers.

Will Limkemann