Do it. Write it.
And, as I've said before in this blog: Write it for an audience of One - yourself.
Send it to FedEx Kinko's and have them print it with a spiral bound.
Voila! Your book is published.
I did this. It was a fantastic feeling to hold that first, unedited draft in a printed format. Back in April 2014, I sat in the FedEx parking lot and thumbed through that big old draft and thought, 'Okay, wow, I wrote this. And, I'm holding a copy of it.' Life is about the simple things. I celebrated with a Hershey bar.
Then you think, 'I wonder if anyone else will want to read it?' Actually, my Vicki was all over that question.
Now, you choose to publish it. As I've written, without a literary agent or a relative or former roommate working a publishing company's acquisitions, your best option might be independent publishing. That's how I went.
There are lots of options. Without boring you, I chose CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, which is owned by Amazon. I interviewed a lot of other companies and settled on CreateSpace. I liked the customer service. I also liked that I had price options when it came to putting together my publishing package. I had choices among graphic design services, interior layout services, line-by-line editing services, and marketing services. There was a carte blanch feel to it, and I liked it.
Many independent publishers, I think, want to print a book as cheaply as possible. And, quite honestly, it's easy to spot a cheaply published book. Readers really do judge a book by its cover. Skimming on good editing aggravates a reader. Sloppy interior layout isn't good. Just as no writer wisely edits his own copy, a good promoter should find promotion help for his own stuff.
Because Brookwood Road was a dedication to my daddy, and fulfillment of a 40-year promise, I wanted to go as first class as I could possibly go. So, I bought a premium package within CreateSpace. I remember telling my sales rep, Sara, "I know my book won't be in Books A Million, but I want it to imagine it being there, and I want to imagine it looking like it belongs there." I could hear her doing the happy dance . . . what fish jumps in the boat like that?
While I spent a lot on the publishing package, I didn't have to borrow money to do it. I didn't have to forego a summer vacation. It was expensive, yes, but it was not a financial burden. And, I was pleased with the outcome of the book. CreateSpace fulfilled its obligation to me, the customer service was great, and I am content with the book. (If it's ever reprinted, I may tweak one or two typing miscues that slipped past a horde of editors and proof-readers. Rarely is a book perfect.)
Did I worry about recovering my investment? No.
Have I recovered my investment? Yes.
Have I made a lot of money on the book? No, and I don't expect to make a lot of money. Vicki and I have had two nice dinners out that we attributed to the book.
I had a story to tell, I told it, and it didn't cost me anything in the long run. Break even never felt so good.
One of the most laborious things I had to do was price the book. The paperbacks and hardbacks are printed on demand, meaning I don't have a warehouse full of books. When someone orders it, the book is printed and shipped to them. I had to come up with prices for the paperback, hardback and Kindle editions that weren't far off the scale for books of this word count, but also provided a small royalty that I could apply back to the initial investment.
For the sake of business, I calculated my break-even at 500 sales. That was lofty. My own research shows that 600,000 to 1 million books are published each year. The average book sells about 150 copies. Think about how many 20-sellers are compared to 1-million sellers in order to get an average of 150 sales. That's a bunch of 20-sellers.
But, again, it was never about the money.
It was about telling the story, and fulfilling the promise to my dad.
And, as a writer, that's where your head has got to be. Write your story; tell your story.
In a future post, I'll write some about the marketing / promotion strategy behind the book.
I did this. It was a fantastic feeling to hold that first, unedited draft in a printed format. Back in April 2014, I sat in the FedEx parking lot and thumbed through that big old draft and thought, 'Okay, wow, I wrote this. And, I'm holding a copy of it.' Life is about the simple things. I celebrated with a Hershey bar.
Then you think, 'I wonder if anyone else will want to read it?' Actually, my Vicki was all over that question.
Now, you choose to publish it. As I've written, without a literary agent or a relative or former roommate working a publishing company's acquisitions, your best option might be independent publishing. That's how I went.
There are lots of options. Without boring you, I chose CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, which is owned by Amazon. I interviewed a lot of other companies and settled on CreateSpace. I liked the customer service. I also liked that I had price options when it came to putting together my publishing package. I had choices among graphic design services, interior layout services, line-by-line editing services, and marketing services. There was a carte blanch feel to it, and I liked it.
Many independent publishers, I think, want to print a book as cheaply as possible. And, quite honestly, it's easy to spot a cheaply published book. Readers really do judge a book by its cover. Skimming on good editing aggravates a reader. Sloppy interior layout isn't good. Just as no writer wisely edits his own copy, a good promoter should find promotion help for his own stuff.
Because Brookwood Road was a dedication to my daddy, and fulfillment of a 40-year promise, I wanted to go as first class as I could possibly go. So, I bought a premium package within CreateSpace. I remember telling my sales rep, Sara, "I know my book won't be in Books A Million, but I want it to imagine it being there, and I want to imagine it looking like it belongs there." I could hear her doing the happy dance . . . what fish jumps in the boat like that?
While I spent a lot on the publishing package, I didn't have to borrow money to do it. I didn't have to forego a summer vacation. It was expensive, yes, but it was not a financial burden. And, I was pleased with the outcome of the book. CreateSpace fulfilled its obligation to me, the customer service was great, and I am content with the book. (If it's ever reprinted, I may tweak one or two typing miscues that slipped past a horde of editors and proof-readers. Rarely is a book perfect.)
Did I worry about recovering my investment? No.
Have I recovered my investment? Yes.
Have I made a lot of money on the book? No, and I don't expect to make a lot of money. Vicki and I have had two nice dinners out that we attributed to the book.
I had a story to tell, I told it, and it didn't cost me anything in the long run. Break even never felt so good.
One of the most laborious things I had to do was price the book. The paperbacks and hardbacks are printed on demand, meaning I don't have a warehouse full of books. When someone orders it, the book is printed and shipped to them. I had to come up with prices for the paperback, hardback and Kindle editions that weren't far off the scale for books of this word count, but also provided a small royalty that I could apply back to the initial investment.
For the sake of business, I calculated my break-even at 500 sales. That was lofty. My own research shows that 600,000 to 1 million books are published each year. The average book sells about 150 copies. Think about how many 20-sellers are compared to 1-million sellers in order to get an average of 150 sales. That's a bunch of 20-sellers.
But, again, it was never about the money.
It was about telling the story, and fulfilling the promise to my dad.
And, as a writer, that's where your head has got to be. Write your story; tell your story.
In a future post, I'll write some about the marketing / promotion strategy behind the book.
No comments:
Post a Comment