How to Publish Paperback Books
The book publishing business is difficult to get into, especially for new authors. Major publishing houses are always chasing the next best-selling author and are quick to overlook anyone they don't feel will become the next J. K. Rowling or Stephen King. If you find you have a title you know will sell but you can't get anyone interested in it, maybe it's time to learn how to publish paperback books and go into publishing for yourself.
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Instructions
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Contact both local and national printers and request an estimate for the number of books you wish to print. National printers may have higher delivery costs than a local one but sometimes this can be offset by lower prices. A good number to print for a first run of a new book by an untested author is around 1000 books, as this will produce a reasonable cost per book.
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Choose a printer based on your estimates and visit the website for guidance on their layout requirements. Most printers will require books in a certain file format (usually PDF). Lay out your book, in Word, InDesign or your software of choice, and save it in the format the printer requires. Create a book cover and save that in the required format also. Ensure your book and cover are sized correctly according to your printer's requirements.
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Visit an ISBN distribution website and purchase a batch of ISBNs. Register your book on one of these and add the barcode to the back of your book cover. Submit the book's files to your printer. Contact the book distribution companies supplying major book retailers and open an account with these companies to supply them with your titles. They may request a copy of your book for assessment.
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Tips & Warnings
Work at least three months ahead of the launch date for your book. Printing, distribution and getting your books accepted by major retailers all takes time and if you are too close to your launch date, you can easily miss it. If you can, aim for a six month lead time; to give plenty of room for sorting out problems.
It can be easy to go over budget when publishing paperback books, especially when distributors and wholesalers want discounts in order to stock your titles. Work out your cost per book before contacting distributors and then double it to get your starting cost per copy. You can then discount this if necessary and still leave a decent profit margin for yourself.
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Resources
- Photo Credit romantic novels and reading glasses image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com
