March Program:
Professional Self-Publishing  

Everyone has a story and according to the self-publishing panel of speakers in March, we not only have a story to tell but one to SELL as well! CWIP’s March 2007 program, Professional Self-Publishing: The Process, Profits, and Pragmatics brought together Peter Bowerman, Jean Iversen, and William McGrath, attorney and mentor (view bios), to share their well-seasoned advice.

Self-Publishing or a Conventional Publisher…Show me the $$$$!

Peter Bowerman, an Atlanta-based freelance commercial writer, speaker, and business coach, participated as CWIP’s first teleconference panelist. Bowerman, author of The Well-Fed Writer (http://www.wellfedwriter.com/) discussed how self-publishing can allow you to stay in control of the creative process. The more initial money you invest in the front end, the more you will eventually make.

Don’t get discouraged; self-publishing offers the advantage of maintaining control and potentially making more money. One book can turn into a full-time living if part of the content is turned into a companion product, such as an eBook or coaching services.

Sell your book online. The Internet has accelerated the dissemination of information. Good products sell fast. A targeted approach works best. Bowerman recommended Steve Weber’s home-based bookstore (http://www.weberbooks.com/publish.htm) as a good source of information.

Bowerman offer these marketing tips for the self-publisher:
1. Identify your audience.
2. Research where to find these audiences online.
3. Send a pitch to a Web site with a compatible interest to either write an article or offer interviews.
4. There can be a lot of follow-up; engage interns to do work.
5. Conduct teleseminars as an add-on product, or to reach an expanded audience.

Marketing

Jean Iversen, with 10 years as acquisitions editor and author of BYOB Chicago (http://www.byob-chicago.com/) says, “You can succeed if you believe in the content.” It is a LOT of work. You need a great idea to begin with. She shared her innovative marketing ideas and book distribution processes.

Be either a good content or publishing expert if you want to have a book that sells. Generally add three to four months for the production process. BYOB Chicago took five months from start to finish; Iversen used a distribution company, IPG (http://www.ipgbook.com/). The book’s page count was required a year ahead of publication—before it was even written—along with price and cover information.

Plan to supply your own display in nonconventional outlets; it can improve your visibility and will make it easier for the merchant. Kinko’s can make foam board easels to display book covers. Jean Iversen’s marketing advice:
1. To start your marketing campaign, find a distributor a year before your book is done.
2. Good covers sell books—know your market when designing your cover.
3. Go to bookstores. Research what is currently on shelves about your subject. See what similar books look like: covers, layout, feel, size, shape, etc. Speak with bookstore managers; ask what has been selling in this area.
4. Get creative with distribution. For example, BYOB Chicago is sold in wine stores and non-bookstore outlets. Iversen puts ads in her book, barters for space in retail outlets, and personally visits the stores to maintain sales. Advertising is included in the books by including coupons from the restaurants with a guarantee to the advertisers of a minimum of 10,000 in sales. Bookstores are part of the plan too, they give good product placement, but they are not the most profitable way to sell. Remember, wholesalers can return your books to you.

Read the Fine Print

Protect your intellectual property. Understanding the contract is the advice from William McGrath (http://www.davismcgrath.com/profiles/wtm.html). Be wary of subsidy (vanity) publishing where the author pays a publisher to produce his or her work, while appearing to have been published conventionally. This route is generally more expensive than self-publishing, with the publishing house making a profit on all its contracted services. This may end up costing more than the actual publishing costs.

He shared some notes of caution and questions to ask when contracting with subsidy publishers:
1. What are you granting to them? Exclusivity? And for how long?
2. What are your exact rights? Do you have electronic or subsidiary rights?
3. What are you getting? How much are you paying? How many copies will they be producing?
4. When will it be published? Allow a year.
5. Subsidiary publishing differs from vanity because they offer promotions. Is this meaningful?
6. If editing is offered, to what extent?
7. What payments will be made to you? Do the math (e.g., 40% of what, wholesale, retail sales).

Since 1978, you have automatic protectable rights after your create your work. Register your copyright; once it’s published; it’s your protection and will save legal costs. Go to http://www.copyright.gov/; fill out form; take two copies of the work, with the filled-out form and a $45.00 fee.

Register your book within the first three months of publishing, since registering must be done in a timely manner. If an issue arises this will help to settle your case and get your attorney’s fees paid. If you send your work out in an unpublished form, register it—you have no three-month grace period for unpublished works.

Illustrations, photos, clip art: read the rights and usage restrictions. You must also have permission of everyone who produced the image(s). Royalty-free images have restrictions, too. Read the rights. If you did not create it, what gives you the right to use it? Works published before 1923 are in the public domain. Unpublished works from this time period are not.

Seek out independent publishers associations. Know where to find editors, indexers, etc.; a good resource is http://www.pma-online.org/. Get creative with marketing. Do what you do best and hire out the rest.

Self-Publishing: The Process, Profits, and Pragmatics program was a great source of information, inspiration,and encouragement. Ready to tell/sell YOUR story? I’m ready—are you?

Ann Mehrman is a freelance graphic designer, photographer, and volunteer art teacher who lives in West Chicago, IL. She can be reached at a.mehrman@comcast.net.

Want more self-publishing resources?

Back to News & Features