http://www.karenequinonesmiller.com/Help%20Getting%20Pub.htm
Help Getting Published
(for a LOT more information on publishing, please visit my alternate website as www.selfpublishingsite.com)
I had a helluva time getting my first book, Satin Doll, published, in fact, I wound up having to self-publish it. And back in 1999, there wasn't a lot of information on how to self-publish (yes, I did get the Dan Poynter book, and it was helpful, but incomplete -- for my particular needs, anyway!) and I found most of the people who went before me were quite stingy with information. Kimberla Lawson Roby was one of the few who was EXTREMELY helpful, but most people kinda brushed me off.
Yet and still, I managed to sell 3,000 copies of Satin Doll in six weeks, and ultimately 24,000 copies in eight months. I did so well that I eventually sold the publishing rights to Satin Doll and a second book at auction for six figures.
So, now it should be my time to gloat, and hold my cards close to my chest so that no one can copy my success. But instead I've decided to adopt the philosophy, "I shall do unto others as I wish others had done unto me!"
To that end, I've tried to kick out as much information about the publishing and self-publishing process as possible.
Hopefully you'll find a wealth of information on this page that will help you as you embark your publishing career. All of the info is free, and please feel free to others that might need it. All that I ask that you don't horde the information . . . that just wouldn't be nice considering you got the info for free, huh?
And if you really want to thank me for kicking out this info, how about just going out and buying one of my novels?
Okay so now . . . . let's get down to the nitty-gritty, folks!
Publishing versus Self-Publishing Goto Karen's page...for the rest. . . http://www.karenequinonesmiller.com/Help%20Getting%20Pub.htm
Self-Publishing can be a lot more lucrative than being published at a small or even a large publishing house. For instance, self-publishing a book of about 200 pages in trade paperback, and having it retail for $15.00 will net you about $3.00 after deducting all the discounts given distributors/bookstores, the price of printing, and the costs of promotion. That doesn't seem like a lot, huh? But, if you sell 15,000 copies in a year you've netted a PROFIT of $45,000. Come on . . . that's not bad. And if you can manage to sell 24,000 copies in eight months you've made $72,000 in those eight months.
On the other hand, if you publish a 200 page trade paperback book through a large publisher, and it retails for $15.00 you only make $1.05 a book! Yep, that's right. About 1/3 of the amount of money you'd get if you self-published.
So then why would anyone go through a publisher rather self-publishing? BECAUSE SELF-PUBLISHING IS HARD AS ALL HELL! Sorry . . . . didn't mean to yell. Let me try that again. SELF-PUBLISHING IS HARD AS ALL HELL! There . . . I think that came out better.
When you self-publish you are not only the author, but you are the publisher; the bookkeeper; the person in charge of shipping and handling; the person in charge of collecting debts; the person who has to find a graphics designer for your cover; you find the printer and get all the materials he needs to him; you are in charge of promotion and trying to get the media to write or talk about your book; you are the all and everything! My biggest issue with self-publishing was that in doing all that I didn't have time to sit down and write my next book!
And let's face it, self-publishing isn't cheap! The printing costs for 10,000 copies of a 200 page book can be anywhere from $7,500 to $20,000 (Yes! Prices can vary by that much . . . which is why you HAVE to shop around for your printer!), and then typesetting can be as how as $1,000 and editing can be anywhere from $750 to $2,000.
And here's the real scary bottom line . . . 96 percent of the people who self-publish never make their money back! Uh huh . . . you read correctly. 96 percent of the people who self-publish lose money in doing so.
By the way . . . so many people think that they can bypass these costs if you use Print on Demand, but that's the worse type of self-publishing there is. And the chances of being your successful go from 4 percent to .3 percent! (I'll try write a paper explaining all the whys and wherefores that make this true and add it as a link to this page soon.)
On the other hand, when you book is published by a large publisher, they actually GIVE YOU MONEY IN ADVANCE OF YOUR BOOK EVEN BEING PUBLISHED! Sweet! LOL But then, of course, as we have seen above, it's still not as much as you can make if you self-publish . . . but that's only if you successfully self-publish.
Personally, I loved the self-publishing process, and I'm so thankful I went through it. BUT, it's not what I recommend for most people. Listen, if you think that you might want to self-publish because you don't want to go through the rejection process that most people go through trying to find a publisher . . HAH! You don't know the meaning of rejection until you've self-published!
