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The Business of Writing

Darlene Duncan

The Benefits Of Self-Publishing

Are you tired of form rejection letters? Tired of wondering if they even read your manuscript before rejecting it? Do you have faith in your book? Are you certain that if you could just get it in print, it would sell? If you answered "yes" to those four questions, perhaps you should consider self-publishing.
 
Self-publishing gives you maximum control over your book, everything from the content to the cover. Best of all, you get to keep all the profits. But before you jump into the deep end, you should learn about what's lurking under the water.

Manuscript Editing
The truth is that whether you self-publish or submit your manuscript to a publisher, you're going to have to contend with this one. Rumor has it that if you submit a manuscript that needs major editing to a traditional publisher, it will probably be rejected. If you publish a manuscript that needs major editing, you may sell your first book but you better believe your reputation for poor quality will keep your second book from moving.

Hiring a professional editor can be expensive, though. However, there are other options available. If you  live near a college, look into having a journalism or English student edit your work. Or find a fellow writer whose work you admire and ask if they would be interested in a swap: They edit your book and, when their book is ready for editing, you do the job. There's also the possibility of finding a freelance book editor who's just getting started. They might be willing to do your editing for free or at a huge discount just to get their foot in the door. If you have the money and want to hire a pro, I recommend you do one of the following:

• contact the Editorial Freelancers Association
• look in Literary Market Place under "Editorial Services"
  
• check out the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) Writer Referral Service

Book Cover
Do you have a design in mind? If so, ask around your community for a graphic artist and/or photographer who might be able to bring your vision to life. Meet with them and explain your idea. Whoever you choose needs to be someone capable and someone you feel you can work with. If you don't have any idea what you want your cover to look like, then hire a professional cover designer.
 
ISBNs
You can order these in blocks of 10 from R.R. Bowker for $225, plus a $14.95 registration fee. (These prices change regularly. When I ordered my ISBNs, there was no registration fee.) You might ask why you should go to the expense of getting an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for your book. The answer is simple. Without an ISBN, you will be lacking a necessary sales tool. This ten-digit number is your book's equivalent of your Social Security number. Bookstores, wholesalers, and distributors use ISBNs to keep track of books. Without that magic number, they have no way of entering your book into their system. If they can't enter and track a book, they just don't deal with the book. Also, if you don't have an ISBN, you run the risk of your book being dismissed as amateurish.
 
Bookland EAN Bar Code
This will probably be the least expensive thing you have to purchase. It can be done online for about $10. The graphic artist who creates your cover will place it in the cover. I'm sure some of you are saying, "Well, there's $10 I can save, I don't know what it is, so I probably don't have to have it." Wrong! Like the ISBN, the Bookland Ean Bar Code is necessary. It's the publishing industry's equivalent of the UPC code you find on everything you buy.

Run Size
Before you can even request price quotes from a printer, you need to have some idea of how  many books you want printed. Your page count will need to be divisible by 8 or 16 to get the best price. Some printers will quote for different-sized runs on one Request For Quote (RFQ) form. Other printers will require you submit an RFQ for each size run.

Printer
You'll need to get quotes from several printers. This will include picking the paper for the text and for the cover. Also, make sure the printer you choose knows what your book is about. I chose a printer, sent the manuscript to them, and then was informed they would not print my book. Why? Because they found the subject matter objectionable. The book in question is a lesbian mystery romance (which didn't contain graphic sexual content). I scrambled to find another printer who could do the job in time to meet my release date. So make sure your printer doesn't object to your subject matter.

Program
If your manuscript is still in a word processing program, you will need to find out what program the printer you've chosen prefers to work with. The two most common are Adobe PageMaker and Quark Xpress. You can go one of two ways with this. You can pay a professional to put your manuscript in the appropriate program and do the layout and formatting. I was quoted  somewhere between $200 and $300 to have a professional do the work. Of course, this means you will have to pay $200 to $300 to have your future books formatted, too. Or you can buy the software, learn to use it, and do the work yourself. I purchased Adobe PageMaker for about $600. If you have more than one book you plan to self-publish, the long-term picture says it's more cost-effective to buy the software. Also, once you know how to do layout and formatting you can offer your skills to other writers for a fee.

Shipping & Storage
You're going to have to get RFQ's for this, too. I was quoted prices ranging from $600 to $1200 for the same shipment. When submitting your RFQ to a freight company, make sure they know whether you have a loading dock. It will affect the price. Where are you going to keep all those books you had printed until you sell them? If you live in a dry climate, your garage might be acceptable. However, for those living in humid regions, you will want to keep all that paper in a climate-controlled environment if you want it to be worth anything.
 
What I have touched on here are just some of the basics involved. While you're doing all of the above, you must also consider how you're going to market your book, how to list with a major distributor so the big chain bookstores can order your book, what independent bookstores might be interested in your topic, what non-traditional retail outlets might carry your book, and the list goes on. (Editor's Note: Darlene will be following up this article in the New Year with another one that focuses on marketing your own books.)
 
There is a lot you need to learn in order to self-publish a quality book. But it can be a very rewarding experience. There are some wonderful organizations and a great many books out there to help you through the process of self-publishing. I examined as many of them as I could before purchasing The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing by Tom & Marilyn Ross. This book has become my bible. I refer to it often and learn something new every time. I also joined the Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN). In addition to that, I read anything I can find on the topic of self-publishing from magazine articles to news blurbs on Web sites.

Many well-known successful writers have made their self-published books into such huge successes that major publishing houses bid against one another for the rights. If you have the time, the money, and the desire to self-publish, you can join the ranks of Edgar Rice Burroughs who self-published Tarzan and James Redfield who self-published The Celestine Prophecy, just to name two.
 
When that truck pulls up in front of your house and unloads the shipment of your book from the printer, you'll experience a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. You did it! You wrote it! You published it! Pat yourself on the back and then get back to work. You've got books to sell!