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JD WRITES
JD WRITES
.........
Hi everyone!
I'm very excited this week because I have finally
launched the Print On-Demand e-book I have
been talking about forever.
"21st Century Publishing - An Author's
Introduction to Print On-Demand Book
Publishing" is now available from Booklocker
(http://www.booklocker.com/books/817.html).
It incorporates the POD series that you
first saw in this newsletter---revised and
updated---BUT it also includes a list of POD
companies, a glossary, checklists and an
exhaustive Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
section.
After talking to authors about POD every day
for three years, and then maintaining the
21st Century Publishing Update online for
another 18 months, I know all the FAQs that
there are about POD, and most of the
answers, too!
The book is the first of a three-part e-book
series that will continue with examinations
of how to prepare a book for POD printing
and, most importantly, how to go about
marketing this new form of book.
Along with the e-book launch, I have given the
site a face-lift. Check it out to see the new
logo and the new look. All your favorite
resources and articles are still there, just with
a fresh new look. Hope you like it.
COME & MEET ME!
As well as launching the e-book I will be
giving a series of seminars on self-publishing
here in Pennsylvania. If you are within driving
distance of Phoenixville, PA (near the fabulous
King of Prussia mall), and would like to come
to my seminars, send me an email at
seminar@jdwrite.com.
Dates:
Introduction to Self-Publishing, July 18,
2002
Print On-Demand Book Publishing, July 31,
2002
This issue is a bumper Q&A issue, since I've
been receiving so many interesting questions. Hope
you find the answers helpful.
For those of you in the US, have a great
Independence holiday this week, and be careful
with those fireworks (to quote The
Simpsons: celebrate your love for your country
by blowing up a small piece of it).
Keep writing,
Julie
P.S. For more about the ebook, check out this
page:
http://julieduffy.com/ebook
NEW THIS WEEK
***
Q&A - Can I Sell My Extra ISBNs?
Hello,
My book is about four to six months from
completion, press of business, etc.
One question: If I buy 10 ISBN's from these
folks, can I resell, rent, give, or bestow the other nine?
Frank
Hi
Frank,
Each ISBN is linked to a particular
publisher. (The prefix is unique to your set of numbers). According to
the ISBN agency's guidelines only the person who owns the rights can
assign an ISBN to a work. Therefore, if you give your ISBNs away, you
are asserting that you are the publisher of those works. All inquiries
(and probably orders) will come to you. Now, although it's not really
allowed, you might be able to come to an agreement with an author who
needs a single ISBN, but it's not strictly within the rules.
You may find that you have more use for
10 numbers than you think at first glance. If you plan to have an
electronic edition of your book, it needs an ISBN. If you want to
release electronic editions in Adobe Acrobat format and Microsoft Reader
format and the Palm format, each needs a unique ISBN. If you release a
second, or corrected edition of the paperback, it needs an ISBN. Audio
books, hardbacks, monographs (excerpted chapters published as a booklet
for regular distribution), all need their own ISBNs. Even if you don't
plan to do those things now, you never know what will come up in the
future.
Hope this helps,
Best wishes,
Julie
***
Q&A - What's In A Press Release?
Hello,
Can you advise me as to the correct format
for a press release that I can then target for a specific
group? I have no experience in this area.
Also where can I find a list of places to
send it?The book is self-help non-fiction and is designed for
business people.
Warm Regards
Helen Lawrence
Hi
Helen,
Press releases should be one page. At
the top it should contain a phone number and a name to contact for more
information followed by a really catchy headline (that the reporter can
use)
After that, start the article with a
problem or issue that you are going to 'solve' in the rest of your story
(by introducing your book). Develop it a little in the second paragraph
then use the third to link your book to it. Use a subsequent paragraph
for your biographical information if you haven't worked it into the
third paragraph.
Include ordering information at the
bottom. End the press release with this text: -30-
This signals to an editor that she has
reached the end.
When writing a press release remember
that publications will quite often print it verbatim, but if they run
out of space they'll start cutting from the bottom. Always put your most
important information high up in the press release and leave stuff that
can be cut for the bottom (extra biographical or story details for
example).
You can find out more about this in
Paul Krupin's book "Trash Proof Press Releases" http://www.publicityassistance.com/paul_krupin.htm.
Paul hangs out in the PubForum email list and always has good advice.
You can get lists of publications in a
number of directories at the library: Burrelle's Media Directory has
major publications and tiny association newsletters. There is another
major directory and its name is escaping me at the moment, but I'm sure
your reference librarian will be able to point you in the right
direction. These directories list publications by category and mention
whether or not they accept publicity material, so can be very useful.
Hope this helps,
Best wishes,
Julie
***
Q&A
- Which POD Is For Me?
Hello,
Thanks for the information on POD. I am
trying to decide which POD company I should should entrust my 'baby'
with. I am looking at Trafford POD and Xlibris.
Any suggestions on which company is
performing best? Could you recommend any other POD companies?
Freedom now,
James Rushing
Hi
James,
Congrats on getting your 'baby' to
the point where it's ready to meet the world.
On looking at the Trafford services,
it looks like you'd have to get the top tier of service ($990) to get a
service where you don't have to order the books and handle order-taking
and fulfillment from your home. With their top tier service they would
handle this stuff but with both of the other services you would have to
become your own distribution center. This may not be a problem for you
(especially if you want to keep a close eye on where every order comes
from) but may result in delays for your readers, a lot of admin and
trips to the Post Office for you, and reluctance on the part of chain
bookstores to order the books.
Since there are other companies that
offer POD AND order-processing and fulfillment, at a lower price
(Xlibris is one of them) I would be tempted to bypass Trafford - unless
they offer something you can't get with another service. Not sure what
that would be, but I'm not sure what your specific needs are.
When you talk to them (and I would
recommend calling and talking to all the companies you consider) make
sure to ask Trafford where they ship books from. If they ship from their
offices in Canada and you are in the US, you're going to have to pay
some hefty shipping and perhaps customs charges.
I don't know how Trafford is
currently doing, but they have been around for a long time (doing
standard subsidy printing before POD became possible) and seem
financially stable.
I know more about Xlibris (since I
used to work there and still have friends there). They are doing well
and seem to have a good system of author-support. If you are at all
interested in hardback books I'd have to recommend Xlibris. The quality
of their hardbacks is astonishingly good. Xlibris handles all the
interior design in professional design programs (not in a word-
processing program like many smaller companies), which make your book
look 'real' to the trained eye, and easy to read to the untrained eye.
They have recently introduced full color picture books, too.
Another company that seem to be
doing a very good job - and which offers fulfillment - is 1stBooks.com.
1stBooks has been around since about 1997 as an electronic publisher,
and has been doing POD for a couple of years. Like Xlibris their
paperbacks and distribution are handled by Lightning Source (a division
of the Ingram distribution group - the largest distributor of trade
books in the US). This means the books get into the bookstore channels
relatively easily. I think the 1stBooks prices and service are
comparable to Xlibris and they offer more formats of paperback - so if
an 8.5 x 11 paperback is really key to your book, you might want to go
with 1stBooks.
When thinking about cost, do
consider the cost to the author of books. In addition to your initial
costs, you are likely to buy at least 100 copies yourself, at some
point. Factor in this cost when comparing prices.
I do not recommend iUniverse.
Although they are big, well-funded and experienced, they take rights and
I don't believe they do enough for you to earn the rights. They do no
more for you than services like Xlibris or 1stBooks and yet they want to
hold your rights for 3 years. If your book takes off and you are
approached by a big publisher, iUniverse gets a cut of your advance. And
it's not like they go out and shop your book to big publishers. So I
don't recommend them. If you're going to give up rights, find a
reputable small press.
If I was publishing POD today, I
would stick with either Xlibris or 1stBooks. They are big enough to have
some clout in the book selling industry; they've been in business long
enough to have ironed out the many wrinkles that come with the
territory; and are both professional organizations, not run from
someone's spare bedroom. (It is very easy to get set up as a 'publisher'
or publishing service today, especially when a printing and distribution
center like Lightning Source exists, meaning the new 'companies' need
invest virtually no capital. This is why I see new POD companies
springing up every day. If you're going to have a middle man, though,
you want it to be someone who knows what they are doing and who can
really earn their cut of the book sales profits.)
One final note. Having dealt with
authors every day for three years, I know that any author who sends off
their baby to be 'dressed' by someone else, is going to need a little
hand-holding. I would recommend calling and talking to the companies you
are considering and getting a feel for how you might be treated when you
go through the process. Now, both Xlibris and 1stBooks have sales teams
who are distinct from the people who will actually handle you after you
sign up, but you can still get a feel for the company ethic by talking
to them. It is important to get someone who feels sympathetic to your
needs but it is also quite important to get someone who will set rules
and limits for you. They SHOULD know more about this than you. It is
very easy for an author to go on tweaking and correcting their book
forever. You need someone who is going to tell you that no, you don't
have to buy that last round of corrections, that you should just let it
go. I'm not sure if you can get a feel for this on a sales call, but
keep an ear open for well-defined services and limits on those services:
how many times do you get to ask for changes, how extensive can those
changes be, etc.
Hope this helps. Please do let me
know how you get on.
Best wishes,
Julie
***
NEWS & UPDATES
http://www.julieduffy.com/writing/updates.htm
THE RESOURCE section is growing and now includes...
BookSurge and Bowker's
1 July 2002
Booksurge.com, and online bookstore
and provider of POD services to publishers and authors, has announced a
deal with R.R. Bowker, the publisher of industry database 'Books In
Print'. Under the new deal, books listed in BookSurge's POD programs can
be listed (for an additional fee) in Bowker's direct ordering online
systems. Bowker is offering publishers POD services through BookSurge.
More:
BookSurge Announcement
WriteNews article
Independent
e-Book Awards Shortlist
27 June 2002
The Independent e-Books Awards
Shortlist for 2002 has been announced.
The Independent e-Book Awards are
designed to recognize and reward talent in electronic books and digital
storytelling from authors with independent publishers and self-published
authors.
Prizes will be awarded at the
Digital Literature Festival, November 1-3, 2002.
more:
The Shortlist
eBook Awards Homepage
The Digital Literature Festival
The Imagination
is Mightier Than The Screen
10 June 2002
Children's author William Nicholson
has refused a large payment for the film rights to his 'Wind Singer
trilogy'. According to Yossarian's Diary, (at the Ottakars Bookseller
site) "He claims he wants them to remain in people’s
imaginations, rather than become a fixed celluloid image, from whence
the original books 'will fade into nothing'."
more:
Yossarian's Diary
Ottakars
Wind Singer books
Do-It-Yourself
Palm eBooks
21 May 2002
Now you can make, sell and
distribute your own eBooks in Palm format. Palm Inc. announced that the
company has licensed the software required. Personal users, businesses
and publishing companies can convert books to Palm format with the new
Palm eBook Studio authoring and licensing tools.
The standard ($29.95) version of
the Studio will not allow encryption or sales but can be used, the
company says, for personal documents and family newsletters. Publishers
will need to buy the Commerce edition, at $129 (coming in June). This
edition, by itself, does not allow encryption but does allow for sales.
To produce encrypted files publishers will need an additional program,
the Palm Retail Encryption Server Software (PRESS). No price was given.
more:
Palm Press Release
Peanut Press (Palm format bookstore/publisher)
Marketing blurb for Palm eBook Studio
Borders
Teams With Publishers
20 May 2002
Publisher's
Weekly reports that Borders book stores will partner with publishers
to manage book buying in its stores. For a mere $110,000 a year (plus
fees for employee training) a publisher can become 'captain' of a
category, influencing buying and display decisions. According to PWDaily,
HaperCollins and Random House have already signed on to captain
cookbooks, romance and early reader sections. In return, Borders will
conduct extensive market research with its customers and share that
information with all publishers.
As PWDaily's editor Steve Zeitchik
points out the expense effectively cuts small and independent publishers
out of the process - and can HarperCollins really be expected to
recommend a competitor's titles over its own?
more:
Borders Corporate Site
PW Interview with CEO Josefowicz
Not-so
On-Demand at Replica
17 May 2002
POD publisher Superior Books is
seeking $1 million in damages from Replica Books, the Print On-Demand
division of distributor Baker & Taylor. Superior claims that B&T
changed their contract (from producing single copies on demand to
requiring minimum orders of 40 copies) which didn't fit in with
Superior's business plan of advertising just-in-time print on-demand
fulfillment to its stable of authors. Quiet Vision Publishing,
specializing in classics and tools for reading education, echoed
Superior's complaints.
more:
Publisher's Weekly article
Replica Books
Superior Books
QuietVision Publishing
RESOURCES
http://www.julieduffy.com/writing/resources.htm
BookSurge.com
http://www.booksurge.com
Booksurge offers POD services and distribution and
has just signed a distribution deal with R.R.
Bowker, the company that publishes Books In Print,
the database many bookstores use to order books.
Claims to be the only POD company offering full-
color but we know that's not true, don't we?
(See Xlibris and eBookstand)
..................................................
eBookstand
http://ebookstand.com
Offering POD services in a couple of different
flavors. You can have your book printed and
available for sale through the company OR you
can have your book in their system and only
available to you to buy (so you can control the
distribution). Offers different sizes and formats
of books including full-color picture books.
Prices seem reasonable, royalties (on books they
distribute) are 30% of retail price for print
books, 50% for electronic. Non-exclusive agreement
and they will supply ISBNs.
..................................................
Imprint Books
http://www.imprintbooks.com
ImprintBooks.com is offering full-color print
on-demand books in affiliation with Booksurge.com.
This company offers 2 formats: 5.5" x 8.5" or
7" x 10". Publishing prices start at $499. Book
retail prices range from $10-40 depending on size
and page count. Looks like you must send the books
ready to print (designed), although they will do
text
book formatting. Non-exclusive agreement,
royalties
are 10%, 25% or 55% or retail price, depending on
format and retail channel.
..................................................
The Well-Fed E-Pub
http://wellfedwriter.com/WellFedWriterEZine.htm
For freelance writers and fans of Peter Bowerman's
The Well-Fed Writer (a book about how NOT to be a
starving writer), this monthly e-zine serves up a
menu of tasty treats: testimonials and tips from
other working writers, who are fans of Bowerman's
methods. My fave section: The Burnt Casserole,
cautionary tales from other writers who are making
mistakes that you can learn from.
To subscribe email: peter@wellfedwriter.com
..................................................
and more...
http://julieduffy.com/writing/resources.htm
NEW LAST TIME
10 Do's & Don'ts for
Self-Publishers Pt V
ABOUT JDWRITE
JDWrite is the online home of writer, journalist and former Xlibris
Director of Author Services, Julie McCarroll Duffy. Julie has expert
knowledge of the new world of publishing: Print On-Demand,
self-publishing, online publishing, eBooks, the evolving publishing
industry and more. Her role at Xlibris was to work with authors to help them understand these developments, to
listen to authors' needs and communicate those to the company. She
has been a speaker at writers' conferences around the US and seeks
to continue to educate authors to understand their ever-increasing
opportunities in the publishing world. Julie is working on a
series of e-books about Print On-Demand Publishing.
All content copyright 2001 Julie
Duffy.
For permission to reprint articles,
contact the editor at jd@jdwrite.com.
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