March 10, 2005

•    Publishing vs. Self-Publishing 

  I get a lot of questions about how to get a publisher.  I have strong feelings about this.  You will send your manuscript to publishers that you can convince to receive it. It will sit there for months, even years, and nobody will read it. And if they do, they will want you to completely re-write it.

   

  And then they will tell you, it's still not good enough to publish. Or if you are very lucky, they will print five thousand copies, with a bad cover design, send you twenty copies, promise you a percentage of the profits and then send you nothing but receipts for their expenses.

   

  And then when you want to promote your book yourself, it won't be in the bookstores. And when you want your book back to put it out yourself, they will tell you that they own it and will not print any more and will not give it back to you.

   

  The worst story I heard was in Japan. Movie star Tatsuya Nakadai's  wife wrote a book about her husband. She gave it to a large publisher. They held it for seven years without doing anything with it. When she died, they immediately published it.

   

  Why go through all the above, when these days you can self-publish your book? (Not vanity press).  You can design your own cover, get an ISBN number, and sell it on Amazon and your own web site. And when you need more copies you can make a phone call to your printer and have them in two weeks. Your book will never go out of print. And you can revise it anytime you want.

   

  These days you don't have to print thousands of copies. You can print 200, or 100 or now there is even printing one at a time. They also have programs for your PC to lay out your book for printing.

   

  And then you will have something to hand out to promote yourself or just to share. Something cheaper than cookies to give to your loved ones on Christmas. And let me tell you it's a great and satisfying experience. And why wait like Nakadai's wife did?  Why not enjoy having your book out now with the cover design, paper, and type style you like.

   

  That's what Gene Simmons of KISS did. He first met with a publisher for his "Kisstory" book. But when he realized they would take him to the cleaners with their endless deductions, he published it himself.

   

  You probably won't make a profit. Or if you do, it will take time. But that's not the reason to have a least one book out that represents you, be it auto-biography, fiction, or whatever subject.  Just call up a printer and get the prices and facts.

  • 11:13 am
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