Naked Science Forum
General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: goofkid on 01/12/2007 08:15:57
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hi everyone!
I was just curious...does anyone know the "steps" of publishing your own book? How does that whole process work??srry if its seems a bit silly ..but i really don't know how it works..
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It is called in he publishing industry "Vanity press printing" But don't go that route - find a printer make a darned good deal with them and do it yourself.
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Be careful of the vanity press black hole, this is a result of people advising you to purchase lots of books and you marketing them yourself. I know of a lady in america who still has a garage full of unsold books many years after publishing herself.
Publish America has got some good reviews and might be worth a try. You need to find a publisher who specialises in your own subject or field rather than sending a synopsis of your book to publishers who never publish your kind of book, if you can do this you will save yourself a lot of grief and heartache. Also take note of the royalties you are going to get and offset this against the number of books you think you might sell. Most publishers will be able to provide you with their costs and your royalty share. You will be expected to promote your book and do regular signings at book stores, the odd tv or radio or newspaper or magazine article won't hurt either. This is why you see stars promoting their books on talk shows.
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Jim's got the right idea, find a printer who has an on demand type prining machine. Once your copy has been proof read and you have got some pretty good feed back from people who have read it and who have put a ring around errors that you have missed time and time again and you feel that the book is ready. Once loaded into this type of printer, you just hit the number of copy's you want and out they come in full colour or black and white. Go to China or India or another country that offers the best price and quality and away you go.
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What has been said about vanity publishing has been traditionally true.
The situation now is that there are publishers which will provide print-on-demand for low volume work.
One of my friends went down that road very successfully:
The book she wrote is http://www.alzheimerbc.org/book_review_12.php (blatant plug), and the service she used is http://www.authorhouse.com/GetPublished/PrintOnDemand.aspx
Clearly, there are competitors the authorhouse, and I cannot say how one compares to another, but if you are looking to low volume self publishing, it certainly is a better route than the traditional volume printers that will be looking at minimum print volumes (clearly, if you are looking to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, then the traditional route might be cheaper in the long run).
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What has been said about vanity publishing has been traditionally true.
The situation now is that there are publishers which will provide print-on-demand for low volume work.
One of my friends went down that road very successfully:
The book she wrote is http://www.alzheimerbc.org/book_review_12.php (blatant plug), and the service she used is http://www.authorhouse.com/GetPublished/PrintOnDemand.aspx
Clearly, there are competitors the authorhouse, and I cannot say how one compares to another, but if you are looking to low volume self publishing, it certainly is a better route than the traditional volume printers that will be looking at minimum print volumes (clearly, if you are looking to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, then the traditional route might be cheaper in the long run).
George, was she successful in the numbers she sold AND the economics of it too ? ie: does/did she make money ?..enough to live off ?
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George, was she successful in the numbers she sold AND the economics of it too ? ie: does/did she make money ?..enough to live off ?
The book itself, I believe (but I could be wrong) made a few pennies profit, but whether it represented a good return for the labour involved is quite another matter. The whole point about print on demand is that the overheads are kept low, so that you can make a few pennies without having to spend thrice that on the overheads.
She made her money by running a small (or not so small) B&B for a few years (in Canada), and she has now sold that, and is a lady of leisure.
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I'm working on a book, so I'll be back here!!!
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Meh, I like to write, so I'll keep this in mind.
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Publish America has got some good reviews and might be worth a try.
Ahem for the record, don't bother with Publish America unless you feel you have researched them enough to decide for yourself. I have read some bad conflicting reports also now. Sorry if my last poast sounded Pro PA. It was meant to have you take a look for yourself not as an advert for PA.