Let’s face the facts. acim author published can be very difficult. There are many different methods for doing it, but it should come as no surprise that most writers are clueless about which methods work. This article will touch on the different methods that are available today for aspiring writers to get their work into print.
Self-Publishing
When an author self-publishes, there’s much more involved than simply writing a manuscript. After the manuscript is completed, it’s then your job to finish the book’s production. It’s also up to you to consider sales prospects. You get your own ISBN (International Standard Book Number) rather than a publisher doing it for you. You can also decide on the book’s selling price and decide which bookstores or dealers can have a discount.
There are a couple of ways to print your own book. The way that’s most cost-effective is to use an offset printer. It’s much cheaper (around 20%) than POD, or ‘print-on-demand,’ books. However, it’s up to you to handle all of the book’s formatting, cover art and interior page design. Print-on-demand costs quite a bit more per book because you print each as it’s ordered.
Vanity Or Subsidy Publishing
Vanity press publishing is a situation where you print copies of your book in limited editions depending on your budget or book sales. Because it’s up to you to decide exactly how many get printed, this is a cost-effective and flexible option. While most companies charge an up-front fee to publish the book, there are some that don’t even require this.
Whether the publisher charges a fee or not, they may have contractual obligations that you must fulfill, as well as certain requirements. You still have to deal with deadlines for the manuscript, editing, cover art and layout.
One of the advantages of this method is that these publishing houses can make your book widely available. They often sell books online at sites like Amazon, as well as offline through the Ingram database where bookstores can order your book.
Commercial Publishing
The best known method is traditional commercial publishing. The whole idea behind commercial publishing is to match the interests of the writer with those of the publisher. Commercial publishing houses usually deal in certain genres and types of books. For example, some only sell non-fiction books while others may specialize in fiction, or a certain genre of fiction.
The main advantage of commercial publishing over self-publishing is that they already have their distribution and marketing in place. This means that you’re almost guaranteed to sell more copies. In many cases, they offer advanced payment in addition to royalties from book sales. They also handle all of the formatting, editing and design of the book. Publishing commercially is easier for you because you don’t have to deal with all of these tasks yourself.
It’s the dream of many authors to land a contract just because of the sheer number of people who’ll see your book. Going the commercial route means reaching potentially millions of targeted buyers. They have large distribution networks and strong sales forces that can get your book everywhere.