so you want to self publish your book?
TRANSCRIPT
What is this workshop about?
We’ll discuss five themes: 1. From manuscript to publish ready 2. Prepare for print and distribution 3. Promote your publication 4. Prepare and publish for digital 5. Pros, cons and costs
1. From manuscript to publish ready
You've written and edited your work. What now? ★ Title and subtitle ★ Preliminary pages ★ Acknowledgements and appendices ★ Making the most of your cover
○ back cover blurb (flap blurbs) ○ author photo ○ images ○ spine title ○ logo
1. From manuscript to publish ready
Activity What goes on the imprint page? Materials: sticky notes, pens
1. Imprint and prelims
(i) Logo (ii) Blank or frontispiece, or other author titles (iii) Title (iv) Imprint
★ Copyright: year and owner ★ Copyright holder/publisher address ★ Rights statement ★ Cataloguing in Publication ★ Credits: cover designer, typesetter, printer ★ ISBN International Standard Book Number (can be
purchased from Thorpe Bowker)
1. And some more prelims
(v) Dedication (vi) Blank (vii) Foreword (by someone other than the author) (viii) Blank (or Foreword continued) (ix) Preface (by the author) (x) Blank (or Preface continued) (xi) Contents page (xii) Blank (or Contents continued, or list of illustrations, or list of tables, or list of figures)
1. Still with pages: text and end matter
★ 1 First page of text, and text continued ○ blah-de-blah-blah
★ Glossary ★ Appendices ★ List of abbreviations ★ Footnotes ★ Bibliography ★ Index
2. Prepare for print and distribution
If your book is publish-ready then it’s time to prepare for print. ★ Design, layout and typesetting ★ Asking for a print quote ★ What you can expect from a printer: costs
and services ★ Distribution and warehousing
2. Prepare for print and distribution
Six things to consider when requesting a quote: 1. Format of your publication 2. Extent or number of pages 3. Binding style 4. Materials for text and cover 5. Printing in colour or not 6. Quantity of books delivered
2. Let’s get a print quote: Format
What is the format of your book? ★ For example: trade paperback; mass market ★ Governed by sheet and press sizes: Demy
8vo, Demy 4to, Royal, Crown, A4, A5 ★ In Australia measure width first (millimetres) ★ Different formats suit different content, e.g.
early readers, novels, cookbooks
2. Let’s get a print quote: Extent
How many pages does your book have? ★ Remember to count in multiples of four ★ Have you included the preliminary pages? ★ When would you number preliminary pages
as part of the text (and not roman numerals)?
2. Let’s get a print quote: Binding
How do you want to bind your book? ★ Hardcover: square backed or round backed ○ Endpapers: printed or plain? ○ Sewn in sections or perfect bound ○ Dust jacket: will it have one?
★ Softcover ○ Perfect or burst bound ○ Saddle stitched
★ Spiral or wirobound ★ Cover styles: wrapped around, self cover, gatefold flaps ○ Slipcase: going for luxury
2. Let’s get a print quote: Materials
What materials will you use? ★ Paper has many properties: it can be opaque, bulky,
have different colours and textures ★ Weight is measured in grams per square metre (gsm) ★ Thickness is measured in microns ★ Text
○ coated or uncoated stock (paper) ★ Cover
○ laminated, cello glazed (matt or gloss) ○ embossed, spot varnished
★ Dust jacket ★ Going for luxury
○ linen binding, gold foil, head and tail bands; ribbon marker
2. Let’s get a print quote: Colours
How many colours would you like? ★ Text
○ black and white only ○ full colour (for images)
★ Cover ○ one or more colours
★ Endpapers ○ if you have any: plain or in colour
2. Let’s get a print quote: Quantity
So how many books do you want? ★ A short print run: 200 or 300 ★ A longer print run: 1000 or more ★ What does print-on-demand mean? ★ What does a run-on mean?
2. Prepare for print and distribution
Activity Request a print quote Materials: pencil, ruler and paper
3. Promote your publication
It’s all about the buyers (not the writers) ★ Have you written a media release? ★ What is your promotion and marketing
strategy? ★ Do you have a mail list of interested buyers? ★ Bookshop visits and sales: you or a
distributor?
3. How to be a digital diva
What is your social media and digital content strategy and branding? ★ Mother ship: design, branding, message and sales –
everything hangs off the author website ★ Satellites: support and promote the mother ship ○ Facebook page: promote and sell books ○ Twitter: promote prior to and on the #day ○ LinkedIn: engage with professionals ○ Blog, Newsletter – if you can write . . . ○ Images and video: Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr,
YouTube
3. The launch ★ Local is lovely ★ the invitation and RSVPs ○ Eventbrite
★ Use and reuse your media release content. ★ Which venue is perfect to launch the book? ★ Who is the right person or celebrity to launch the book? ★ Who will provide and pay for the refreshments? ○ enhance the bookselling experience: set the stage
★ Who will sell books on the day? ○ cash and credit card facilities
★ Have you arranged a photographer? ★ Free yourself and the author to enjoy the day.
3. Promotion
Activity 1. Name all of Canberra’s bookstores 2. Name all of Canberra’s media outlets Materials: pen, pencil and paper
3. Bookstores Canberra Paperchain Electric Shadows Dymocks National Library of Australia National Gallery of Australia National Portrait Gallery Australian War Memorial Parliament House National Museum of Australia Canberra Visitor Centre
3. Media Canberra
Canberra Times ABC Radio Canberra Weekly Canberra News Capitol HerCanberra RiotACT Chronicle
4. Prepare and publish for digital
Let’s go multi-channel marketing ★ CrowdFunding: Unbound, Kickstarter ★ Non-traditional print: Blurb, Lightning Source ★ Preparing the file formats: ePUB and mobi ★ Selling at Amazon Kindle ★ Selling at iTunes ★ Promoting with Facebook, BookBub, ★ Digital library distributors
4. Prepare and publish for digital
Case study one: Working with the Belconnen Arts Centre and Jenny Manning to produce a born-digital publication. Case study two: Working with Roslyn Russell to promote her publication.
4. The good, the bad and the ugly
The good • An excellent relationship • Trust on both sides • An opportunity to produce a good book • A broad reach for digital content The bad • A small market and low sales • No national distribution for print • Limited marketing The ugly • There is no ugly
5. Pros, cons and costs
Traditional publishing • Author writes the work • Agent places with publishing house (for fee) • Publisher accepts to produce the work • Publisher pays for all the costs: • Editing and proofreading • Design, layout and typesetting • Printing, warehousing and distribution • Promoting and marketing • Publisher offers author a percentage royalty,
usually 12% of net or 15% of gross
5. Pros, cons and costs
Self-publishing • Author takes on role of publisher • Author pays for all the services • An alternative is for author to engage a self-
publishing agent to manage process • Author keeps funds from proceeds of sale. • Author has control of the processes • Important to note: booksellers take a 40%
discount on sales price; distributors take a 60% discount on sales price.
5. Pros, cons and costs
So what are the costs? • Editing and proofreading: $50-$110/hour • Typesetting: $4-8/page • Design: $150/hour • Printing: $10 per text book (approximate) • Publishing services: $75-110/hour, which
includes: o Marketing and communication strategy o Managing the launch o Social media drive and promotion o Bookshop selling
So what have we learnt?
If you still want to self-publish, think about: ★ the whole package
○ the text, the cover, the presentation ★ the final product
○ print or digital, or combo of the two ★ marketing your product
○ a launch is your best opportunity to sell ★ becoming a digital diva
○ access all social media
Contact Bobby Graham
I look forward to hearing from you at: Email: [email protected] Mobile: 0418 27 17 47 Twitter: BGPublishers Instagram: Libertybasil Web: http://bgpublishers.com.au/