| You can be an author!
by Crystal Paine
When you get a chance, I would really appreciate it if you could share with us some of your tips for getting one's work published. What do you feel about self-publishing? What seems to be the most economical choice? I am sure many of your readers could benefit from your expertise on this matter. - Christine
Self-publishing is definitely an area I'm still just a newbie at and years away from being any sort of "expert", but I'm happy to share what I've learned so far.
Getting your work published by a major publishing house is usually a difficult task, from what I've heard. Once you get your foot in the door and have a successful first book, it is much easier to get your second contract and so on, but you could spend all of your life trying to get in with major publishing houses and never get in. If you do get in, you will have much wider exposure, usually, but you will be bound by the terms of their contract. You may earn a nice amount off of it, you may sell hundreds of thousands of books and hardly make anything. It all depends upon the publishing house and the contract.
If you are approached by a publishing house and given a good offer, go for it, but if you want to get your work published and you don't want to have the possibility of years of work getting it in with a publisher, self-publishing may very well be a good option, especially if your book geared towards a smaller market (i.e. More of a niche topic and wouldn't have universal appeal).
I'm personally pretty biased towards self-publishing because it has worked well for us. With self-publishing, though, they say that writing the book is only 5% of the work. You don't just write it and produce it, you also have to sell it. Having a pretty good hold on basic marketing skills is imperative if you want to sell any books. I know of people who have self-published high quality books and yet, they have thousands of them sitting in boxes in their garage or basement because they can't sell them. With the internet, it is much easier to set up a website, network with other businesses, and establish yourself in the market much more quickly than it was say 15-20 years ago. But, it is still a lot of work. I'll tell you that firsthand!
In addition to marketing your book, you also need to be prepared to invest a good deal of money upfront to actually publish your book. Book printing is not cheap. However, if you can invest enough the first time around to have a high quality presentation and you can print 1000-5000 copies, the cost per book will be quite low, allowing your profit margins to be much higher.
My personal, inexperienced advice is to start small and work with the budget you have. I started with a 32-page booklet, The Merchant Maiden, which had a black and white cover and was printed with our local printer for around $150 for 100 copies. The profit margin wasn't very high, of course, but I was able to use the money made from that first printing to pay for the first printing and a second printing of 100. Little by little, I've been able to save to be able to do larger printings and, with Handmaidens of the Lord, to finally have something with a glossy color cover! If you can't afford to publish even something small, producing an ebook is an excellent option. You could use part of the proceeds to pay for the actual printing of your ebook if you were eventually hoping to print it. For more information on ebook-writing, check out my article here.
Writing and producing a book should never be a solitary task, even if you are self-publishing the book. None of us are skilled at everything. Focus on what you do best and pay others to help you in areas you are weak in. I love to write, but grammar and syntax are not my forte (I'm sure those of you who read my blog on a regular basis have figured that one out - this is Crystal 's writing in raw form - mistakes and errors and misspellings and all!). In addition, graphic design is something I despise. Not only am I not skilled in the area, I am not patient enough for it! So, I always enlist the help of some wonderful people in these areas which frees me up to write and market books rather than agonize over such details. In the end, the finished product is much better than I could ever hope to produce alone.
If you are interested in more information on self-publishing, I encourage you to consider joining the Christian Self-Publishing Group. They have taught me everything I know and are an invaluable resource.
Also, I'm copying an article below which I wrote a few months after publishing my first booklet:
You Can Be an Author!
"You should write a book." For years, I had been hearing this comment. Writing an entire book seemed completely overwhelming, and so, for a long time, I contented myself with writing short articles.
One day, inspiration for an article hit me and, as I started writing, paragraphs began flowing out at an enormous rate. Before I knew it, a rather lengthy piece was developing. It was too long to be an article, so, I decided it would not hurt to try self-publishing a little booklet. Was I ever surprised! The first printing of this 32-page black and white booklet sold out within a week.
All of us have an area which we have more knowledge and experience than the person next to us. What many do not realize is that there is often a hungry market out there ready and willing to pay for the information we have to offer. Yes, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to see a book to completion and printing, but it is well worth it.
Some things I have learned through the experience:
1. Start small. Don't attempt to tackle a 400-page work for your first publication. You will also save yourself a bundle on printing if you keep it small. I recommend a booklet under 50-pages to launch your career as an author.
2. Enlist the help of others who are more experienced. If you know someone who has published anything, ask their advice and help. You will gain invaluable information from them and save yourself many headaches. In addition, request assistance from others for editing and proofreading. No matter how meticulous you are, it is always good to have other eyes review the final draft before it goes to the printer.
3. Be prepared to deal with disappointment. When you put your heart into something only to hear, "We're not interested," it is easy to take it personally. But, you must continually remind yourself that this is part of the package deal in self-publishing. For every "yes" you receive at least five "no's" (or so it seems). Learning to humbly and graciously accept rejection and keep pressing forward is an absolute must in self-publishing, especially at the beginning.
4. The more you market, the more you sell. You can publish an excellent book, but unless people know it is available, you cannot expect many buyers. The possibilities for marketing are endless. Check out all the books on marketing your local library offers. These will give you some great starter ideas. Send out an e-mail to friends, family, and business associates announcing your book's publication date and offer a limited-time pre-publication special. Join self-publishing groups and let them know about your book. Ask others to promote your book. Be pro-active and do not be afraid to try novel ideas!
Crystal Paine is a 24-year-old homeschool graduate from Topeka, Kansas. She is the blessed wife of Jesse and joyful mother of Kathrynne. Visit her site, Biblical Womanhood, for books, articles, encouragement, and inspiration!
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