Q: How do I get a book published?
A writer can take any of three paths to publishing a book:
1. Vanity press: The author pays a "publishing" company to print, distribute, and promote the author's book. Vanity publishers are often, if not always, disreputable sewer rats (no offense to sewer rats) who make their money from the longing of writers to see their work in print. Avoid these people at all costs. (To escape the "vanity press" label, some vanity presses nowadays go by other names; therefore, be aware of any publisher using any of the following terms: Print-on-Demand, Joint Venture, Subsidy, or Supported.) Prominent Web-based vanity presses include, but are not limited to, iUniverse, Author House, and Xlibris. Do not, however, confuse POD -- print-on-demand, a term that often describes a business strategy -- with either a vanity or a subsidy press. (For more on this subject, go here.)
2. Royalty contract: The writer writes while the publisher undertakes all the financial responsibilities and risks. This is how most books are published in the world, including those at Bear Creek Press. The swap here is security for profit; because the publisher undertakes the entire monetary investment, the royalties paid to the author are low. Bear Creek Press pays the author 10 percent of the cover price of the book for each book sold. It may surprise you to know that this is one of the highest royalties paid in the business, with BIG publishing houses often paying in the 5-7 percent range. The difference is that the BIG houses will probably sell far more books, which results in higher overall royalties.
3. Self-publishing: The author undertakes the printing, distributing, and promoting of his own work. In this way, author and publisher are one and the same. This is a perfectly legitimate means of publication, one in which a writer can make more from the sale of each book than he would if going through a traditional royalty contract. The financial risks, however, are also much higher. (For a good overview of this process, click here.)
Q: Why should authors self-publish their books?
Two reasons:
1. The first (and less important) reason concerns money. Royalties are so low these days that writers can make almost nothing from their work, with the exception of Oprah authors, Stephen King, and the like. Unfortunately, rising costs have made these paltry figures almost a necessity, but they don't have to be that low. (If Bear Creek Press can afford 10-12 percent, then why can't the big boys, who often keep theirs in the 6 percent range?) Of course, an author's direct sales help the situation by making a 50 percent return possible, but only if publishers give authors that kind of break; they sometimes don't. On the other hand, self-publishers take the entire profit -- minus production, promotional, and discount costs. In exchange, however, the author is assuming the total financial risk of the venture.
2. The second (and more important) reason is control. Authors who self-publish have total control over their work -- not one word will be changed unless they approve it. Of course, this also entails the author being an effective editor of his own work, which is often an almost impossible expectation.
The production phase of the process converts text and images from your disk into a format suitable for printing. First, clients either deliver the text of their manuscripts on CD or submit them via e-mail in either PC or Macintosh format.
Then, images are scanned in grayscale (for pages) or color (for covers) at a resolution of 300 ppi, edited for optimum quality, and saved as TIFF files to be incorporated into the page layout. As an alternative, clients provide their own scanned and edited images on disk; because this saves production time, it also lowers costs.
Finally, after both text and images are converted to a suitable digital format, the book's pages and cover are designed and laid out, the client examines and approves the proofs, and the finished manuscript is ready for printing.
Bear Creek Press offers digital printing as a service to its clients, though it cannot compete with large-run commercial printers or book manufacturers. We do, however, offer print-on-demand quantities and guarantee the highest quality materials and craftsmanship. Books are printed on a high-resolution, high-speed laser printer that produces sharp, clean text and photo-quality images. In addition, after binding and trimming, each book is inspected to ensure it meets our standards.
For those who want their books to include color images or hard covers, we can provide the manuscript as a PDF file, which can then be submitted to an appropriate printer. In addition, you can find online price quotes for your project from one of these book manufacturers:
Note: This is NOT an endorsement for any of these companies. One self-publisher, however, passed along this comment to us:
"BooksJustBooks was a truly pleasant surprise. They did all they said they would, with quality work, in a timely manner. Thanks for the tip."
Note: In 2007-2008, our printing costs jumped more than 130 percent. As a result, we have had to limit the printing of self-published projects and raise our rates accordingly. Serious self-publishers should seek a book manufacturer for their printing needs.
Initial consultation: free
Production (layout text and images): $25 per hour (Most books take 10-25 hours to lay out, depending on number of pages, images, and scans, though the record is 40+ hours.) Note: See exception to the standard production rate below.
Printing cost: 35 percent of the book's retail value for the first 100 books, 50 percent thereafter
Print run: minimum 50 books, maximum 200 books
Folding (7x8.5 books only): 20 cents per book
Sorting, binding, and trimming: 50 cents per book
Covers: $.35 each for 8.5x14, $.50 each for 11x17 (We no longer do in-house printing of covers.)
Shipping: paid by buyer, insurance required
Important: We do not keep contracted books on file. Instead, a PDF file on CD is given to the author at the conclusion of the project.
Once upon a time, we produced a self-published book for a fellow who
ran a welding shop. We charged him $15 an hour, our standard rate at the
time. But when we went to his shop to get some welding done, we found his
rate was $75 per hour. As a result, we now charge businesses the same that
they would charge us if we were to do business with them. So whether you're
a mechanic who gets $50 per hour, a lawyer $200, a cardiologist $1000--that's
what we'll charge you to produce your book. That's an-hour-for-an-hour swap.
(Exceptions to the exception: Realtors will be charged 7 percent of the
high market value of our office building, and university professors will
be subjected to long, tedious, meandering lectures about nothing in particular.)
And if you feel that what you do requires so much skill that you deserve
what you make, then be assured we feel the same way about our job.
Finding a Writer (for those who have a million-dollar idea for a book but no idea how to write it)
"Don't get sold on self-publishing to get rich or make more money as an author. Choose self-publishing because 1) you want more control, 2) the book needs to get out now, 3) you are a great businessperson, 4) you love to talk to strangers on the phone (and sell your book or yourself), and/or 5) you have an exit strategy or sales plan that is reasonable." John Kremer
Aaron Shepard's Publishing Page
Build your own book -- especially photo books, including hard cover
Layout your own book with Microsoft Word
ISBNs (International Standard Book Number)
LuLu Press (advertises its services as "free," but check its prices here.)
Publishers Marketing Association
Book Marketing (scroll down to "Publicity & Book Promotion Articles")
Book Reviews
Bear Creek Press
With its World Headquarters located at the old Abbie Riggle Place on Bear Creek Road just one mile from downtown Wallowa, Oregon, Bear Creek Press is the largest publishing house on the southwest bank of the Wallowa River.
"Well-designed and well-printed books."
Statesman-Journal (Salem, Oregon)
"There could be nothing so important as a book can be."
Editor Max Perkins in a letter to author Thomas Wolfe
