If you’ve had a brilliant idea for a book that will promote your expertise and impress potential clients, spent many hours slaving over a hot keyboard and finally put that final full stop on your manuscript, what’s next?
Publication.
But do you know what your options are? These are the main four types of publishing, all with their pros and cons, depending on your circumstances and aims.
Mainstream publishers
The publishing houses that produce hundreds (or even thousands) of books every year, don’t publish everything they’re offered.
Some of the big publishers won’t even deal directly with the author, they only talk to agents. Those that do expect you to jump through all their hoops – and may still say ‘No’, sometimes months later.
The pros: If you get your manuscript accepted, they will edit it, design your cover, have it proofread, assign an ISBN code, list it with the main book wholesalers, probably try to sell the foreign rights and advise the book reviewers that the book has been published.
The cons: They don’t do much other marketing, unless you’re an established author or a celebrity. The letter that goes to reviewers is basic with a very short description of the book and an even shorter author bio. They do expect the author to do the bulk of their own marketing.
The days of advances for unknown authors are almost over. You’ll get a small percentage of net for sales (single figures!)
The lead time from submitting your finished manuscript to actual release can be as long as two years. Your book will be scheduled into the publishing schedule well ahead of time.
Self-publishing
This is where you literally do everything yourself. There are a number of self-publishing options, probably the most popular are IngramSpark and Lulu.
There is also Amazon self-publishing, but read all the small print very carefully before you sign away your rights. If you publish on Amazon, you may not be able to sell your book anywhere else and it almost certainly won’t be listed with the UK wholesalers, so you can forget book signings in Waterstones and other bookshops, because it won’t be on their systems.
The pros: You’re in control. You only pay a per book price, so everything else on top of that is yours.
Some self-publishing houses also do fulfilment, so they will post your book directly to the purchaser.
The cons: You will have to pay for editing, proofreading, cover design, page layout and design, ISBN, etc. You will have to approach the main book wholesalers to get your book listed, so it can be sold through bookshops.
You will have to list your book on all the platforms, both as an ebook and a hard copy. You will also have to carry out fulfilment for any book sold yourself in most cases.
Independent publishing
This category has a wide range of options.
Boutique publishers are similar to the mainstream publishers in that they don’t accept every manuscript, but do pay more. Some of them have in-house editors, some don’t. Some offer cover design, some don’t. Examples include ThinkPress and Matador.
Book services, such as AuthorHouse, BookBaby and iUniverse are just some of the options that will charge you a fee and then take care of the actual publication process. They won’t edit or proofread your book, so there is no quality control as such.
Membership publishers where you pay a fee to get your book published and they usually offer cover design, page layout, ISBN, registration with wholesalers and ongoing support. The best example of this kind of publisher I’ve come across so far is The Endless Bookcase, who also invite members to a monthly webinar and actively support their authors to help with marketing their books.
If you’d like to discuss publishing your book, drop me a note.
