by test
31
6. Request for Legal Deposit Copies of a New Book
34
7. Receipt for Legal Deposit Copies of a New Book
35
8. Allocation of an International Standard Book Number
36
9. Completing a Whitaker Book Information Form
37
10. Notes on Whitaker/CIP Book Information Forms
38
11. Notes on Whitaker Book Information/WHS Subscription Forms
40
12. Two Examples of CIP Data Blocks
42
13. The Stages of Book Production
47
14. Example of a Type Font
54
15. Extract from a Typesetter's Font List
55
16. Asking an Art College for Help with Design
57
17. The 'origination' Stage of Book Production
58
18. Proof Correction Marks
60
19. Approaching a Printer for a Production Estimate
64
20. Sample Estimate from Printer First Example
65
21. Sample Estimate from Printer Second Example
66
22. Sample Estimate from Printer Third Example
67
23. Estimating Total and Unit Production Costs
71
24. An Outline Marketing Plan
76
25. A Simple but Informative Advertising Circular
79
26. The Basic Ingredients of an Order Form
80
27. Approaching an Organisation About the Book
83
28. Approaching a Public Library
84
29. Approaching the Features Editor of a Local Newspaper
85
30. Receiving Payment for the Publication of Excerpts
87
Page 10
31. Approaching the Editor of an Evening Newspaper
88
32. Approaching a Radio or Television Producer
89
33. Approaching a Celebrity
91
34. The Book Distribution Network: Getting the Book to the Reader
95
35. Approaching a Museum Curator
97
36. A Bookseller's Returns Note
98
37. Return of Books: Another Example
99
38. Contacting a Library Supplier
101
39. Registering with the Public Lending Right Office
103
40. Letter Setting out Distribution Terms
107
41. Letter Setting out Distribution Terms for USA
108
42. A Distributor's Computerised Stock Report
110
43. Recording Sales on a Customer List
113
44. Writing a Debt Collection Letter
117
45. Replying to an Unsolicited Offer of a Manuscript
119
Page 11
1
Getting Started
This chapter deals with the following:
what is the aim of do-it-yourself publishing?
selling and distribution
publishing in Britain today
vanity publishing
clarifying your aims
cash problems
the practical requirements of independent publishing
the advantages of specialising.
But first let's see how two would-be publishers might approach the task.
A Tale of Two Publishers
1. A Success Story. Breakeven Publishing: How to Publish Your Book and Get Your Money Back
Harry Bright had always wanted to write a book about life in his town during World War Two. His brother ran a bookshop and he encouraged Harry to write and publish his book. Harry wrote the book in longhand. His brother typed it into his word processor. They then contacted six different local printers for quotes on the cost of producing the book. Eventually, they chose a community printing co-operative which was prepared to give a large discount for cash payment, half on delivery of the book and half on completion of the job.
Harry's brother knew a young graphic design student who took on the design work in his own time. While the designer and the printer were at work, Harry and his brother sent out circulars to all their friends and relations, to local radio and newspapers, libraries, museums and organisations telling them about the book.
Page 12
In October, on the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing of the town, the book was published. Harry was interviewed by the local newspaper and on the radio. By Christmas, he had sold all 1,000 copies of his book, at £9.99 each. After paying the printer and the designer and informing the Inland Revenue of his income, he took a long holiday in the South of France to write his next book.
2. A Cautionary Tale: How Not to Publish Your Book
Arthur Bloggs was a keen amateur photographer. He had taken a large number of pictures of railway locomotives. A friend suggested to him that they would make a good book. Arthur managed to persuade the friend to give him financial backing to publish the photographs in book form.
Arthur contacted a printer at random from Yellow Pages. He chose the best quality paper, a large size format and the finest methods of photographic reproduction, regardless of expense. He borrowed £500 from his friend to pay a deposit to the printer.
Ten thousand copies of Arthur Bloggs' Railway Locomotives were printed, priced at £11.99 each. Arthur had no room in his house to store them, so he arranged for them to be kept in a friend's garage. He did not know that the garage roof was leaking.
Publication day was January 2. Arthur threw a champagne party for the press but no-one came. He advertised his book in railway magazines and national newspapers. He gave away 200 copies to friends and relations who promised to pay but never did. He kept no record of these copies.
Arthur signed a contract with a national distribution firm to distribute 500 copies of the book. After a year, only 200 copies had been sold. The company pulped the remainder. The other 4,800 copies languished in his friend's garage, getting ever more mouldy, until eventually they were thrown onto a skip.
Arthur was made bankrupt when he could not pay the printer's bill. He had to sell his house and now lives in a bedsit.
The story of Arthur Bloggs is a true one. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
It illustrates very clearly how things can go wrong if you get carried away with the idea of publishing your own book and do not apply strict controls. On the other hand, you should remember that it is not only amateur publishers who can come unstuck. Most commercial publishing firms, if they chose, could tell horror stories about books which have lost large amounts of money, disappearing manuscripts, missing pages and covers stuck on upside down.
Page 13
Aims of this Book
One aim of this book is to help would-be publishers to avoid the problems encountered by Arthur Bloggs. The methods set out below are those which we used for our own publishing. We do not say they are the only methods, or the best ones, or those used by commercial publishing firms, but we do think that if the following principles are applied, with an element of luck, you can publish your own book efficiently, with every chance of getting it out to a good number of readers and at least breaking even in financial terms. Realistically, we do not think that the amateur publisher should usually hope for much more.
The most difficult problems facing amateur publishers are marketing and distribution. Given enough cash, anyone can get a book printed but not everyone can get it into the hands of paying customers. This book therefore contains essential detail on the sales side of publishing in the hope of advising would-be publishers on how to sell, and so avoid ending up with a warehouse of unsold and unsaleable books.
It is relatively
easy to write a sound book but it is very difficult to get it commercially published. This is surprising when you see the poor quality of some of the material in bookshops. In 1998 many of the best selling books in Britain are TV and film spinoffs or material produced by 'celebrities'. If your name is not known and you have no contacts in the media world, you have very little chance of having your work accepted by a commercial publisher. So if you have written, or are going to write, a book which you consider worth publication you may well find that it is disappointingly rejected by established publishing firms, most of whom are inundated all the time with new publishing proposals.
To overcome such disappointment this book sets out to show how you can do it yourself. It does not go into too much detail about the technicalities of printing processes, except to give a basic overview. In our view, printing is best left to a professional printer. The most relevant technical printing terms are explained in the glossary, and a selection of books on the subject is included in the section on further reading.
Clarifying Your Aims
Vanity Publishing
Publishing your own book can be a worthwhile exercise, very interesting and even exciting at times and to see your writing in book form with your name on the cover can be most pleasing.
This sometimes causes people to pay to have their book published by
Page 14
what are known as 'vanity' or 'subsidy' publishers, many of whom advertise in the Sunday press and in magazines. As the name implies, the book is only being published to satisfy the ego of the writer irrespective of the quality of the work and this is extremely expensive (several thousands of pounds). Vanity publishing means paying someone else to do the whole job. The conventional wisdom is: don't do it!
The drawbacks of vanity publishing
Remember that vanity publishers will usually print an agreed number of copies in 'sheet' form but will only actually bind a few copies.
Book reviewers in newspapers know who the vanity publishers are and they won't generally review their books. (They won't usually review the work of a small publisher either.)
Bookshops won't normally stock vanity published books.
Never pay for publication. If a book really is worth issuing on sale to the general public it should sell enough to cover costs.
Your Motives for Publishing
Before you start making financial decisions it is worth examining your motives. For example:
Vanity eg to see your name in print?
To promote a cause eg to publicise the plight of endangered wildlife?
For fund-raising eg any profit from publishing to go to charity?
To make money eg for yourself or an organisation?
To provide information as a service eg publishing a 'Members Handbook'?
In association with, for example, a company, school or university or other institution eg to mark a centenary?
The pure pleasure of self-publishing learning to handle words, design and print?
Page 15
If you are frustrated from receiving standard rejection slips from commercial publishers, remember that this does not mean that your book is bad (although it may well be!). It simply means that the publishers have decided that the subject matter is wrong for their list, or that they cannot sell it in commercial quantities.
The Practical Requirements of Independent Publishing
Cash
The first thing you will need is a certain amount of money to pay the bills as you go along. This will probably be 3,000 to 4,000 for the type of paperback you are now reading, though an exact figure would depend on the type of book and quantity to be printed. One of the objectives of this book is to show you how to keep down the cost of production. Another is to show how to maximise the sales of your book in order to cover your costs.
If you cannot afford any financial risk at all, stop now but remember that one aim of this book is to show how to reduce the financial risk to an absolute minimum. If you follow the principles set out, the worst that you could lose would be the cost of, say, a Caribbean cruise. At the end of the cruise you would have a beautiful tan and several rolls of film. How would this compare with having your own book in print?
Amateur publishers need to be aware of any and all possibilities for saving and making cash. Could your book be an attractive prospect for advertisers to insert their own material? This could be a distinct possibility in the case of local interest or specialised books. You could telephone or visit local traders, or even contact the marketing departments of national firms, to see if they would be interested. One important factor in selling advertising space is the likely make-up of your readership, so make sure that you tell potential advertisers exactly what kind of people the book is aimed at.
On the other hand, you could equal the achievement of Aeron Clement whose book on badgers, The Cold Moons, sold 8,000 copies when privately published. It was subsequently published by Penguin and has sold over 100,000 copies. It is also worth remembering that Beatrix Potter published her own first book after rejection by commercial publishers. But these were very exceptional cases.
Time and Energy
You will in effect be running a small business with all the time-consuming
Page 16
Fig. 1.
A simple flowchart of the publishing process.
Page 17
and energy-sapping jobs which this involves, but the excitement and potential rewards can certainly compensate for this. Many of the points made in this book would apply to businesses in general, not only to book publishing.
Business and Management Sense
You must be able to manage your time and resources in the most efficient way possible. This may cause problems if you have never run your own business before. Remember, there are no monthly salary cheques in the self-publishing game. This book aims to help you to become an efficient manager of your own enterprise.
Luck
We are not able to help with this essential element! Management consultants are increasingly aware of the importance of luck and are trying to analyse and advise on this element. Random chance, good fortune, being in the right place at the right time these are intangible ideas. Everyone is lucky at some time in their lives but the successful business person learns to recognise good portents and to take advantage of them. The importance of luck should be better recognised and prepared for, so that opportunities can be seized when they arise.