Facts about being an APE (Author Publisher Entrepreneur)

I was asked by a published writer as to why I wanted to write a book. I took a while to think and replied that I wanted to make some money. He liked writing, had won a few local competitions for short plays, but I don’t think he earned money out of it. Fortunately or unfortunately the self publishing industry has managed to destroy writing as an art, and cater to vanity while adding to their company coffers. It costs money to publish a book and costs more money to market it. I am sure of this when I saw in Times Square, New York, where an author had a huge hoarding advertising his book(s). Who says writers are poor?

I can write despite my new desire to earn money by it.  I had won essay writing competitions. Writing styles have changed over the years. Novel writing, defining styles are now subjects one can choose to study. I don’t think  Shakespeare or Jeffrey Archer went to some school to learn the art of story telling. I think it is a talent and really has no hard rules. So write what you want, keep your readers in mind, don’t worry too much about a targeted market when you write. Editing is a different matter, as much as is designing the cover and choosing a title.

Some facts I gathered on my journey to marketing my book, and advising a celebrity on how to go about publishing his second book. (His biography was an excellent piece of research written in the days when publishing was not “self publishing”. They will tell you that even Mark Twain was a self published author).

Self publisher or publisher?

Both work well. Some publishers pay you to write, on any subject. They have to compete with the self publishing industry, so they follow a model where they will edit and publish your work and give you an upfront advance. The royalties are negotiable to an extent. It is usually on a contract to complete the manuscript within a specific time. It has to be marketed for a forthcoming event or season. Difference is that they pay you rather than you pay them. Depends on the material and how well known you are, which in turn helps to presell the book. You can negotiate the deal. The other major advantage is that they are locally available in your town. This matters especially if you are well known locally. Also consider freightage costs while buying from the publisher at your author discount prices.

Self publisher is where you pay them to publish your book.  Books are usually POD (Print on Demand).

Whoever it is, their major buyer of your book will be you! Every trick in marketing will be used to entice you to buy the book and market it through book launches and stock it for your own trading. It can become a costly exercise.

The main thing to remember is that there is nothing like a bad book, unless it is badly edited and printed. The content may or may not have a universal appeal. However, every book has a reader.  In distributing your book, do not give away any complimentary copies to friends and relatives. They are possibly not your readership. You need buyers of your books and therefore some targeted marketing will need to be done.

Who are the buyers of your books?

Libraries are the No 1 buyers of books. They have a budget and will buy through a buying process. They have a preferred supplier of books like James Bennett and Co or Ingram who will list your book on their data base, which is accessible to only Librarians. Many libraries can only buy through an approval process.  There are around 5000 libraries in Australia. Consider every council, shire, university, school, community organizations and some corporates, and the figure could be much more. This excludes bookstores and online portals.

Now if your publisher is an overseas one, and is giving you 30 to 60% discount, and the distributor wants a 30% discount, the entire exercise has no incentive for anyone or at best you make 10% after freightage on small orders. Bigger the order, more the freightage.

Comparison of Royalties

Self-publishing companies in the US, POD Publishers like Xlibris (Print on demand publishers)

Direct sale through their website :   25% royalty
When sold through any bookshop : 10% royalty
eBook     :                                               50% royalty
Author discount : ranges from: 30% to 60% depending on the volume ordered.
Setting the retail price of the book is important. It depends on the number of pages, binding, black and white or colour. To set a price, publishers like Xlibris charge a premium!

Createspace (Amazon Company)

Royalty is the difference between the price you set and Amazon’s share: it roughly works out from 30% to 40%.
The royalties are calculated based on size of book, no of pages, colour or black and white. They have a calculator.
Shipping costs can kill.
No royalties when buying your own book. You pay a member price.

Marketing

These services are offered at a premium by the self-publishing industry with no idea or guarantee of a return of investment. You are often told your book could become a film. Undeniably it could, if marketed at a huge investment. There are no guarantees and it is an investment which can not be predicted. If you have bags of money, then this may give some tangible results. You could even get someone to write your book! This path is good if you are an established brand, and are willing to invest a reasonable amount.

Steps to making it a profitable venture

Step 1 : Write the book (easier said than done)! Write something everyday. Size of book; closer to 200 pages is better.

Step 2: Choose an evergreen topic (like history, politics, personalities, science, ‘how to’, inspirational) or write a series of novels, select a genre of your choice.

Step 3: Get an ISBN number, usually free in most countries or at best for a series of 10 numbers about: $20.00. Register the title with the National Libraries Register. The other things that can help are a bar code, a QR code for your website or Facebook page  for the book, create a Twitter account for the book.

Step 4: Choose a cover which has faces in the cover design. Younger readers don’t seem to like abstract designs. Facebook has changed the way one perceives. DIY with a shareware like paint.net or get a designer to do it : $200.00

Step 5: Edit the book yourself and then get someone to edit it. Many are available in the market. I’d say edit it through basic MS Word spell checker. Read up about using punctuations, and editing in general. A lot of resource on the web.

Step 6: Proof read it and send it to …. that’s the big question. Step 3, 4 and 5 usually are done by the publisher for which they charge you a minimum a $1000.00. The catch is not here but you have no control over the book. You have a copyright which means nothing in the major part of the globe. You have access to some free copies. You can sell only on their website. You can’t offer wholesaler discounts because you get your books at a high price. Usually they keep the price high and offer you the discount being the author. There is however the next Step.

Step 8: Print it in China. Almost if not all the publishers get it printed there. The key is to get the right one, which is not a difficulty really. Book from Publisher costs say $20 + freightage. If you print it in China the book will cost from $1.50 to$2.00. So if you are buying say 2000 books … see the difference! Even if you get the books landed at an investment for printing at $5000.00 for 2000 books (I have included customs and port fees and local delivery), by the time you sell them each at $20.00 each you stand to make a profit of around $35,000.00.

Step 9: How important are reviews? They make a huge difference to the real readers of books. It is debatable whether to get a paid review. Objectivity is lost when friends and those who get it free from you write a review. It is hard to get a no-obligation review. However, any review is sometimes better than none. Reputable reviewing companies can help sales. But, is it worth the expense.

Step 10: Media Release is just a one page write up of your book. Get hold of the emails of the local list. Your council could help. Send out a media release at least three weeks before your launch.  Budget permitting you can make some CPC campaigns to launch your book on Facebook, Google and Bing.

Step 11: Book Launch works well but not so popular these days. Where to have it, when, how to make it an event. Most book launches are held in some bookshop. You see them in the movies. However I’d suggest do it in the art gallery style. Have a party, throw in some Champaign, get a local celebrity to speak, have good party snacks and invite all your friends and key members of the public. I am sure you will sell the books. Make it a marketing-promo event!

Points to remember

1. Books don’t get sold overnight. An ROI (return of investment) period of 3 years must be considered. Printing it from China means you need to sell lesser number of books. In this case just 150 which will make the ROI period just a year.

2. Write a good book to justify a good price. Have hard bound books as libraries will want them.

3. Write one every year or 6 months. I know an octogenarian who has written over 40 books in the last 15 years. All well researched books on history. He lives off his royalties and never fails to write each year. Of course, he is a recognized historian, and a great inspiration to us.

4. Evergreen books never die. You can write the same history, with your perspective and commentary. Be sure to acknowledge and format references.

5. A word about eBooks. There are some interesting statistics on eBooks. It is only 30% of readership that uses a kindle or goes on line to read a book. People still like to hold paper and associate a book with relaxation. For the effort in creating an eBook the returns are low and the publisher will give you only 50% of it. However, you must have one, create a landing page and sell it on eBay and other online forums along with the book. It works well for authors who are well known brands. Can work with a large marketing budget.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my frank views on making it a business. Please feel free to comment.
You are on your way to become an APE!