For a writer who wants to see their book published, they can go the self-publishing route or the traditional mainstream publishing approach. With self-publishing, there are a number of variations on the theme outlined in this article, ranging from doing everything yourself, to handing over your work entirely to an outsourcing company, or various approaches in between with some use of external desktop publishing services.

(1) Conventional publishing is the traditional approach to publishing a book. This route to publication is hundreds of years old and involves a writer, or their agent, submitting a manuscript to an established, well-known book publisher in the hope that the company’s readers and reviewers will like their book and like it. Offer a post. contract. For most writers on this journey, a rejection letter would be the likely outcome, if you’re lucky you may receive an evaluator’s comments on your rejected manuscript as feedback. For the lucky few who are accepted, a contract is offered along with a royalty typically in the range of 10% to 15% (sometimes based on the cover price, often based on the discounted price for a bookseller). An advance is often offered on anticipated royalties earned in the future, which can range from a few hundred or thousands of dollars to millions of dollars for mega-authors or exceptional first-time authors with a best-seller to offer. The great advantage for the writer of the main publishers is that he can leave the production, design and marketing of his book to the professionals of the publisher. Happy Days.

In recent years, desktop publishing has shaken the foundations of major publishers. As the term ‘self-publishing’ indicates, the writer takes responsibility for the publication of his work and can choose a number of paths on the way to the eventual printing and distribution of his book.

(2) The least demanding route to desktop publishing for the author, but the most expensive, is the full outsourcing approach. A writer contacts one of the many independent, almost exclusively web-based desktop publishing companies, and agrees to a contract whereby, for a hefty sum ranging from many millions to thousands of dollars, the writer submits his or her work. (usually by sending it by email). ) and let the outsourced company handle the publishing. Cover design and book page layout are left entirely to the professionals with often limited input from the author. The marketing and sales of the published book are left to the company, along with the organization of advertising, distribution channels, and ISBN assignment and registration. Some outsourcing companies now also offer book promotion via Twitter, Facebook and other online social networks. Royalties for the author are usually more generous than for conventional publications and can amount to around 80% of the net profit. Note that some of these contracts require an author to purchase hundreds of copies at her own expense.

(3) The most demanding route to self-publishing is where the author takes full responsibility for page and cover layout, ISBN procurement, marketing, sales, and advertising along with printing copies of the book. Clearly, this is also the least expensive approach that offers the highest royalty, which can be 100% of the net profit if the author arranges for printing and then sells the copies through various channels such as eBay, website promotion, and more. local sales.

(4) A hybrid form of book self-publishing is when the writer uses one of the free publishing websites, such as lulu.com or blurb.com. The writer, in this way, designs the cover and inside of the book, but buys the ISBN or marketing services from the website company. Or the writer can buy the complete package: including book and cover design, ISBN, marketing and channel distribution. The author remains primarily responsible for local sales and uses promotional tools like Twitter or Facebook to promote sales of her books. Royalties are often on the higher end of around 80% of net profits and are paid to the author by the free publishing website company, but still allow the author to purchase copies of their book at printing cost for sell it locally or nationally by the writer at the cover price.

(5) A variation of the hybrid approach to desktop publishing, and one in which the author of this article has more experience, is when an author contracts with a desktop publishing service provider to design the cover and interior of the book, assign the ISBN and then use free publishing websites to self-publish your book on your behalf. In this case, the writer pays the self-publishing service provider for the services provided, which will be much less than in option (2), typically around $300 to $400. Please note that authors are encouraged to provide information on the cover design and book design. Companion copies for the author may be part of the agreement between the two parties. Once the book is published, the web-based storefront is delivered by the service provider, leaving the author free to manage book orders to sell locally or nationally. At that point, the author is fully in charge of receiving royalties from the free publishing website and the marketing and promotion of their book, although the service provider may also offer marketing and promotion campaigns (on social networking sites) for help the author with sales. Royalties are on the high end of around 80% of net profit and are paid to the author by the free publishing website company. Please note that the service provider does not share royalties or money from book sales. A showcase, hosted by the free publishing website company, is an important tool in this approach and is under the full control and ownership of the author, the service provider has no input (unless requested by the writer) in the management and operation of desktop publishing.

Each of these approaches to getting your book published has its own advantages and disadvantages for potential authors who want to see their book published. Clearly, writers need to weigh their options and then take the first steps in what is sure to be an exciting and hopefully profitable publishing journey – welcome to this brave new world.