Getting Your Book into Print

Credit: Kirstypargeter on Photodune

There was a time when getting one’s words into print and out to the reading public was time-consuming and expensive.

If you were going the conventional route and seeking publication with one of the major houses, you wouldn’t have been considered unless your project was submitted by a literary agent. Which meant that you’d have to find an agent first.

I’ve traveled this route myself and I quickly found that the literary agency world has a hierarchy. Up at the top are the name-brand authors who write the bestsellers. Below them are the seasoned authors who may not have the name recognition of the superstars, but they can be counted on to produce books that sell.

Then there’s the third tier, which consists of everyone else first-time authors, unknowns who aren’t first-timers, and that guy down the street, you know, the one who writes poetry on weekends. I found myself firmly in the third tier, which meant that my book project only got cursory attention from the agency I signed with.

So, what’s a resident of the not-so-exalted third tier to do? Well, if you’re bound and determined to get your book into print, consider publishing it yourself.

Self Publishing

Although self publishing has a well-deserved reputation of being a refuge for those who’ve been (deservedly) rejected by the conventional publishing world, it can also be great place to learn about the book business. That’s because you’ll be handling every aspect of your publishing project, or overseeing the efforts of those who do the actual work. All of that for a lot less money than you’d pay for business school tuition.

Until very recently, self publishing meant that you’d better have a spare closet, garage, or guest room available for all of the books that you’d be getting back from a printer. Speaking as someone who once shared a good bit of a one-bedroom apartment with many boxes of books, I’d advise you to over-estimate the amount of storage space you’ll need. Those book boxes will take up a lot of space in a hurry.

Or you could forgo the adventure of turning your residence into a warehouse by choosing the Publish-on-Demand (POD) option. Simply put, POD will enable you to have one copy of your book printed. Or 10. Or you may not choose to have any books printed unless someone orders one.

Publish-on-Demand

POD relieves one of the greatest crazy-makers for of publishers of all sizes, and that is having cash tied up in inventory. Recall all those book boxes in my apartment. They represented many thousands of dollars.

And, since the book sales slowed down and never recovered after I reprinted the first press run, I got to look at those book boxes for several years. I ended up giving a good part of that second press run away. Live and learn.

If you’re interested in pursuing the POD route for a words-on-paper book, the big players in the field are companies like Lulu.com and Xlibris.com. Depending on the publishing package that you choose, these companies will help you through the editing, design, printing, and distribution processes.

If you’re more of a visual person an artist, illustrator, or photographer you’ll probably be more comfortable with full-color oriented POD companies like Blurb.com. One of my fellow Tucson photographers used Blurb to produce a book about dead and decaying saguaro cactus plants. He brought a copy to our local photography Meetup group, and to a man and woman, we were very impressed with the final product. He called the Blurb BookSmart book design software "brain-dead simple to use.

Promoting Your Self Published Book

One of the strengths of POD is that the act of producing a book is a lot faster and less expensive than it once was. But you’ll still need to promote your book if you want it to sell. Here are three resources:

1. When it comes to all things self publishing, Dan’s your man. I’m talking about Dan Poynter, author/publisher of the Self-Publishing Manual. I can remember buying my own copy back in the mid-1980s, and it wasn’t a new book back then. Poynter’s Para Publishing offers a wide array of books and reports that cover anything you’d ever want to know about publishing successfully.
2. Want to run with the big dogs and get your book listed on Amazon.com? Take a look at Jeremy Robinson’s POD People: Beating the Print-on-Demand Stigma. Be forewarned that Robinson has no tolerance for POD slackers. If you’re going to get your words into print, make sure that they’re highly polished and professional. Or that scary green guy on the POD People cover will come after you.
3. Looking for book promotion ideas? John Kremer has you covered his 1001Ways to Market Your Books should keep you busy for quite a while. Like Dan Poynter, John Kremer’s been well respected in the self publishing arena for decades.

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Kirstypargeter.