How to Self Publish a Book

Self-publishers are authors who produce their own books and sell them to booksellers. Self-publishing books has become faster, easier and cheaper. You can go to a printer and do it yourself or you can contract with a self-publishing company; there are hundreds of them out there listed on the Internet and in writer’s magazines. Make sure you ask the right questions before signing on with any self-publishing company.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Study the publisher's contract carefully. The author contract should be short and easy to understand. It should never lock you into keeping your book with the publishing house. You should be able to leave without penalty at any time. You should own every single piece of the process, from copyedited manuscript to the files used to print your book.

2. Determine your book’s printing costs. The book’s retail price is almost always a function of your cost to print the book. If your book costs more to print, you need to push your retail price higher just to break even.

3. Ask if the publisher will let you set your own retail price. Remember, to sell in retail outlets you need to set your book's retail price at least twice your cost. Chains, big retail outlets, and wholesalers want at least a 50% discount. Also ask if you control the discount offered to retailers and wholesale accounts.

4. Determine what your anticipated author profit is--the amount you receive from each book sale. Be careful of any company that gives a huge royalty but forces unreasonable retail prices on your book. It makes no sense to get a 50% royalty on a book that will never sell.

5. Know what the royalty is paid on. Most often it's paid on the net sale, not the retail price. Look for a publishing company that pays you based on a "fixed cost" basis and forwards all the remaining profit to you.

6. Ask if you have creative control and can set your own design.

7. Check your potential publisher's background. Find out how long the publisher has been in the publishing industry, and what their track record is. Ask to see some of the books they have produced. You might even want to contact one of the authors of a book they produced.

Resources

• Para Publishing is a good resource.

[clothilde77]

on 7/29/2008 Excellent, to-the-point information. I especially like the information on setting the price, something to think about. POD is another route to take.