Tradional vs. Non Traditional Publishing.... Taking the Plunge into POD Publishing and Finding a Publisher

STEP ONE- DOING THE RESEARCH

Now that I decided to break with the traditional publishing model, and venture into the world of non-traditional publishing, I began the process of learning which of the non-traditional publishers would best suit me.

There are several major factors that must be considered: The publisher, the methods of book distribution, the online sales sites avenues, the traditional retail brick and mortar sales outlets and the marketing methods available to a POD author.

THE BOOK PUBLISHERS.

While there are several types of non-traditional book publishers available in the non-traditional publishing world, I discounted all but the Print On Demand publishers – Vanity and Subsidiary publishers, who require you buy all copies of the book and then sell them yourself was not for me.

This left Print On Demand as my choice. The choice of Print On Demand publishers was more than I had expected – Roughly, 97 different companies.

Using Google, I found a website that offered the most comprehensive database on Print On Demand Publishers I could find. The database was created by Dehenna Bailee. (http://dehanna.com/) After downloading the database, I began my comparison of the POD publishers. Before I went any further, I queried the list serves on the Mystery Writers of America, The RWA, and spoke to several of my peers in the Author’s Guild as well as several other writers who had gone the POD route. When I was finished, I had a list of a half dozen POD publisher recommendations.

As I wanted to stick with U.S. publishers, if possible, as I felt the shipping costs for the readers would be lower. I further narrowed the list to 4: Lulu, Authors House, iUniverse (which is now owned by Authors House) and BookSurge, which is a subsidiary of Amazon.com.

Then I spent another week calling the various companies (when a number was available) and speaking with their sales people (Most called themselves Author Representatives or Publishing Consultants). When I was finished with the interviewing process – at least that’s what I decided it was for me - for them, I’m sure it was called the sales process – I made my decision based on cost and the openness and willingness to explain the details of their publishing company and processes.

While Lulu seemed to be the easiest of them, and looked inviting, I also considered the overall experiences of the POD companies as well as looking at their online and retail distribution avenues. Author House / IUniverse was very strong, but their initial costs were high and the overall cost of the final product, because of the size of my manuscript for Angels In Mourning, made the end result an expensive book – around $23.00. Although the Author’s Guild uses iUniverse for their Back In Print line, a wonderful program which allows authors who own the rights to their out of print books to have them republished with only a set-up fee, and make them available for purchase online and by special order at bookstores, their costs, as I mentioned earlier, were too high for my taste.

Royalty rates were of concern as well. Traditionally published royalties averaged 6-8% for paperback and 10-12.5% for hardcover. Not a tremendous amount, but when tens of thousands of books are sold, it amounts to a lot more than a hill of beans. With non-traditional publishing, the royalties are much higher, because there is less between you, the writer and the buying public. POD royalties vary from 20% to 40% depending on the publisher. And, to be completely frank, once your book is published, you want to see royalties coming in. Why? For me, there are two major reasons: first and foremost, royalties tell me people are reading my book – which is why I write; and, second, because it helps to pay the bills!

My final decision, again based on all factors listed above, was BookSurge. One fact above all had me leaning toward them. Their Publishing Consultant was straightforward, extremely knowledgeable and seemed to have the interests of his authors in mind. I also liked the fact that they were owned by the online monster retail website, amazon.com. Their costs were reasonable, and their support seemed to be extremely strong. Royalty-wise, they are among the best in higher end royalty percentages.

My next step was to look the contract over. When I did, I found several things that made me feel better about BookSurge. The most important was that I maintained all rights to my book; and, I could cancel the contract whenever I wanted, with 30 days notice. This, I felt, was a very good thing. If I was unhappy with the publishing or sales results, I could move to another publisher. Foreign rights and dramatic rights, which are always a struggle with traditional publishers was a non issue now.

After perhaps twenty more phone calls, all of which my Publishing Representative handled with ease and understanding, I signed the contract and sent it in.
My 33rd novel was on its way to being published, and this time I had control over almost all aspects of it. I would be in charge of the final editing, cover art, the font type, and paper color. It was a good feeling.

And then, of course, came my other thoughts: What in the hell did I know about any of that, other than what I didn’t like in many of the final versions of my previously published novels? Well, I was about to find out.

My Next Blog: Making sure the manuscript was ready; starting the marketing; and, unexpected problems.

To view information about my first Non-Traditionally publshed novel, Angels In Mourning, Click here