Jan B. King: Book Publishing Inspirations and Explanations

I have just begun to use LinkedIn to create groups to help my connections in a number of different arenas meet each other. To stimulate conversation, I’ve posed questions to each group.

Last week I asked one of my favorite groups – the author’s assistants – if they worked with authors full time. I got a variety of responses between, “Yes, my virtual practice is exclusively with authors,”, to “No, I work with a few authors but many others who need virtual assisting.” Today, I received this wonderful response: ” At the beginning of this week, my answer to this question would have been “No”, however; my marketing and networking efforts have paid off! I just entered into an agreement with an author today for a rather large project and have about 4 more in the wings after two friends spread the word to others at their networking events. You’re right, there are SO MANY potential or budding authors out there and all are very appreciative to find someone with some general publishing knowledge if nothing else but to be a reference source for them to bounce questions off of. That said, I’m sure I’ll run into questions along the way too with this project, so THANK YOU for this forum and the other resources you’ve provided!”

No matter how many times I encourage those who want to work with authors that they are out there, there is nothing like hearing it directly!

I am frequently asked by those considering the Virtual Author’s Assistant Training Program if being listed in our directory means they will automatically be sent clients. The answer is a resounding, “No!” There are no automatic clients from any directory as far as I know. A directory with 60 or 100 or 1,000 listings is not a marketing vehicle – it only provides outside validation your expertise.

You must build your own practice with all the tools you have. The more important consideration: How much do you want it? Are you willing to get outside your comfort zone and call people, go to networking events, tell them what you do and ask for the business?

Authors want help, but they don’t know you can provide it unless you write articles, give talks, attend events and most importantly, let your clients know that you know your stuff!

Just like anything, a lot of hard work and preparation, a little luck and a positive attitude will generally get you where you need to go. Congratulations to Julie who wrote me the wonderful email. She wanted it and she went and got it. I hope she will take that lesson to the authors she works with who are looking for publishers!

As I said in the last blog, a company who has you pay for the privilege of publishing with them is not a publisher, no matter what they call themselves. That kind of company is called an author services firm or a publishing services firm by those in the publishing industry.

If you are thinking of doing business with a publishing services company, (sometimes called a POD publisher) – a company that calls itself a publisher but charges you a fee up front – make sure they are right for you. We’ve developed a eight-point checklist. If they can say “yes” to each of these, then you’ve found a great company to work with. If there are any “no” answers, please think twice!

1. Author retains all intellectual property rights – if you have to pay up front, there is absolutely no reason you should be selling your intellectual property in the bargain. There should be no discussion of royalties (which are only paid when you have sold rights).

2. Author benefits from book profits (isn’t just paid royalties or a commission) – again, if you have to pay the full cost of producing the book up front, why should the publishing services firm get a percentage of what you sell? If they only want a percentage from the books they are able to sell, that would be a reasonable exchange. If they are able to generate bookstore orders (unlikely, but not impossible), then they should take a percentage from those sales. Otherwise, the profits from the book sales, minus the costs to print, should be yours.

3. Author has the right to terminate the publishing services contract, preferably in 30 days, but no more than 60 days. -if you get a great offer from an established commercial publisher, you will be kicking yourself if you can’t take it because you are stuck with a bad contract.

4. Timeline the author can live with - many publishing services companies do not specify how quickly they will publish your book. There is no reason they cannot create the cover and interior and have the book printed within 90 days of when they receive the manuscript. Anything much outside of that time frame is unacceptable and you should only sign a contract that gives you a full refund if they do not have books in your hands within 90 days, unless you specifically agree otherwise for some reason.

5. Professional quality cover, interior and printing – I have seen way too many books with completely unprofessional covers and book bindings that are falling apart. A professionally-designed cover is easy to spot a mile away and if you aren’t sure of what you are getting, call in a professional to take a look for you. Many of the publishing services firms outsource their printing to LightningSource.com (just another reason for you to go direct), but if they do, at least you can be sure that the quality will be good.

6. Author is given cover and interior design files if contract is terminated - if you have had to pay to have your book cover designed and the interior typeset, then you want the right to get the design files back (not just a PDF) if you terminate the contract. Most POD publishers do not allow this.

7. Reasonable prices for books – if part of your contract is for the publishing services firm to print your books on-demand, then you want no more than a 25% mark-up to cover their administrative costs than if you took your book to your own printer. The on-demand printer you would be smart to use is LightningSource.com (for more reasons than I can detail here). The formula LS uses is $.90 x .015 x the number of pages in the book. So for instance, if your book were 183 page, the LS price per book would be 183 x $.015 = $2.75 + $.90, which equals $3.65 per book. Again, using this example, if the price quoted to you by the POD publisher were more than $4.56 per book, you are paying too much.

Too many publishing services companies charge a percentage of retail, like 50% of a $20 book, or $10 a book. This is how established commercial publishers work, but they do it because you haven’t paid for publishing up front – that is a whole different story.

Don’t sign a contract that requires you buy a minimum number of books.

8. Reasonable prices for other services – many of the publishing services companies want you to buy marketing services and they will offer you a menu that you feel like you need to be successful. Much better to interview qualified professionals and choose your own after talking to other authors and others in the industry. Don’t sign a contract that requires you to buy any additional services.

I am in the midst of preparing opening remarks for the upcoming publishing one-day, August 5, just before the eWomenNetwork Conference in Dallas.

In asking the participants what they most wanted to know about, this subject came up many times: “How do I know whether I should publish my non-fiction book myself or find a publisher? I hear so many conflicting views and get so much advice.”

This is a subject we will definitely do our best to provide clarity on at the conference. I think much of the confusion stems from another question that once was easy to answer, and now not so easy: “What is a publisher?”

Let me give you my answer – an answer many will not like or agree with.

An author is the one who comes up with the intellectual property in manuscript form. The publisher is the one who adds the money and expertise to leverage the intellectual property into a successful book by providing a great title, cover, interior and then cost-effectively printing the book and getting distribution for it into the bookstore market.

By this definition, so many of the entities calling themselves “publishers” are instead, “publishing services” or “author services” companies.

Here is the bottom line: IF A COMPANY ASKS YOU TO PAY FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF PUBLISHING YOUR BOOK, IT IS NOT A PUBLISHER.

Publishers make investments. If you are both making the investment and bringing in the intellectual property, that is not a publishing deal. What you are doing is buying publishing services.

There is nothing wrong with that if you know what you are paying for and what you are getting. I hear so many people tell me what their “publisher” said, only to find out they aren’t working with a publisher at all.

In my next blog, I will detail for you the eight contract provisions you want to have when you contract for publishing services. Don’t mistake this type of contract for a contract with an established commercial publisher which is an entirely different thing, with entirely different contract terms.