Getting Your Book Published - Where And How

Dee is ... absolutely right and "AbsoluteWrite" is a very good forum. Great writers there. Also try Books and Writers Community . I've made lots of friends there over the years and the writers have a wonderful fellowship.

Lor

 

Dee: I'm about to disagree with you on two points... both are with relation to publishing through Lulu www . lulu . com.

As a Lulu author with a global distribution package (which means that my book is available via Ingram's), I can find my book in virtually EVERY book reseller's catalog. For giggles, I've looked it up on dozens of them. Amazon, B&N, Borders... it's on every one. But I've not written a single marketing plan. It's not even mentioned in any of the lulu materials while creating the book.

So while I agree that a marketing plan might be a good idea, it's not essential if you choose a POD method.

Again, I don't go through Booksurge and I am readily available on Amazon. Yes, I do get a smaller royalty on each book sold via the distribution plan than directly from Lulu, but that's ok. And while there is a small delay between when the book is sold and when I receive payment, who cares? They handle it all for me.

Lulu, unlike a traditional vanity press, doesn't charge a DIME until you actually buy a copy of your book to proof... and even then, you only pay production cost and shipping. So my book, which sells for $114.95, only costs me about $17 delivered to my front door.

~J

 

The online booksellers use a database. That's not the same thing as a publisher's catalog. A publisher's catalog is a sales tool to obtain orders from the bookstores. It's not directed toward consumers. The catalog usually is compiled about six months before the upcoming season. Book publishing has three seasons: Spring, Fall, and Winter.

The catalog usually has the title, cover graphic, author bio, print run if it's over 10,000, description of the book, co-op advertising and the publisher's planned promotional efforts. for example: For our last book, the publisher included the cities where we had scheduled events.

If the publisher is small, with less than 10 titles or so, it's common for them to sell through distributors. The distributors then compile a catalog of the publishers they represent and call on Borders, Barnes and Noble, Booksamillion, etc, etc.

Lulu is great for what they do as far as vanity publishers go. I believe that the fee for a title to appear on amazon.com is included in the global distribution package.

Truth be told, Barnes and Noble, and the other retailers, very rarely stock POD books, although you can easily find POD titles in their online store. There are exceptions of course but they're few and far between. POD authors will often leave copies of their books on consignment to be paid for when and if the book sells. Sometimes a customer will order a POD book and then not pick it up. Since the title isn't returnable, the bookstore will shelve it hoping it sells. And there are bookstores which promote local authors and they may stock a copy.

Dee

 

Dee - that's not what your original post said. What you said was that you had to have a marketing plan to be listed in Ingrams. That's simply not true.

Lulu no longer charges for the global distribution... so your theory about amazon's fee isn't holding up, either.

Being stocked on a shelf might be a completely different story. But that's not what was asked.

 

All you have to do is have Lightning Source be the printer of your book and it will automatically be listed in Ingrams.

I believe you're referring to this paragraph of mine

You should absolutely do a book proposal even if you self publish. It will keep you on track as you write the book. And a marketing plan is even more critical if you self pub. Both Borders and Barnes and Noble require a written marketing plan for self pubbed books. They also require that the book be available through Ingram's or Baker and Taylor, and not be POD. The only way for an author to get in Ingram's is to be accepted by a distributor. And, you guessed it, the distributor requires a marketing plan with submission of the book.

This was in reference to books being bought and stocked in bookstores but
I can see how my statement could have been interpreted to say that a marketing plan was necessary to be in the Ingram database, period. Ingram does not require a marketing plan IF the book is printed by Lightning Source, their Print on Demand subsidiary.

Borders and Barnes and Noble both require a marketing plan to be submitted if you want your book stocked in their stores. That was my main point.

Sorry for the confusion.

One last thing. There are a couple of definitions for POD. One is Publish On Demand which means that the book isn't bound together and delivered until it has been ordered and paid for. Several small, legitimate, non vanity, publishers use this method. And authors. Publish on Demand has also come to mean a vanity press, unfortunately when you say POD, most people in the industry assume that you mean a publish on demand vanity press. And finally there is print on demand, a technology that allows one book at a time to be printed at a reasonable price. Many, many, small presses use the print on demand technology to print 200 or 300 hundred copies of a title at a time.

Dee

 

Jh is right. I wouldn't even consider an independent publisher. Self publishing is much more effective and you get to keep 100% of the profit (minus expenses, of course). There's a number of ways you can promote your new book, assuming there is a market, that provide better results and a wider audience than any publishing house and it doesn't take that much effort. Just a little thought and research. You can PM me if you want more info about self publishing.

 

I am currently working on my first book and I have been doing a lot of research about self publishing using BookSurge, LuLu etc. You have raised some good points here.
I think every author needs to have a clear understanding about why they want to write a book. I am not writing a book to make money off of it. I will actually donate all proceeds from the book to Kiva. I think you will make real money after you become a successful author (niche bestselling author), whether through self publishing or using a traditional publishing house.
So marketing is KEY!