SECTION FIFTEEN~

PAPERBACK
AND
EBOOK
PUBPLISHING OPTIONS
For The Self Motivate
A!thor
Many readers of this tutorial are likely to
be interested in commercially publishing
their work. Options range from relatively
inexpensive and fairly easy ebook
publication to traditional hard cover book
publishing. Most who probably will not
publish a hardcover book, but there is
ample opportunity through many vendors
to create a paperback through on-demand-
publishing.
In dependent publishing used to be an
almost impossible and expensive process.
Now it is within the reach of almost any one
who wishes to publish.
If you search as I did, do not be surprised
at the number of dierent approaches
publishers make to entice people to publish
with them. !o the inexperienced and the
uninformed one might end up spending far
too much to get a book published whether
as ebook or as a paperback.
It is important that any one who is seriously
interested in publishing, and especially
publishing for pro"t should take special
care in picking a publisher. I found an
article that provides good insight into the
process.
Ho" to Self#P!$li%h a Boo&
#t the time of this writing this is located at
www.lifehacker.com$ how-to-sale-publish-
your-own-book-%&%'(%&)%*. !he author Ian
+amont gives some excellent suggestions
on how to ,navigate the brave new world of
self-publishing,.
I-m providing here a
brief summary of his
points. .!he
numbers are mine
not his./
'. 0ou do not need a
certi"cate in
creative writing, an
Ivy +eague 1ecree or any other
,2uali"cation, to self-publish. (. 1o you
need an editor3 Not re2uired, but helpful.
). 4ave someone proof read before you
publish. *. 1on-t use a book publishing
service which demands an upfront fee
and$or excessive cut of sales and revenue.
0ou don-t need vanity publishers anymore.
E$oo& %elf#*!$li%hi+,
-. 5iggest ebook self-publishing platform is
#ma6on-s 7indle 1irect 8ublishing .718/
program. 9ets published on #ma6on .com.
It is free. #uthors keep up to :'; of
revenue. <imilar services oered by 5arnes
= Noble, #pple, and others. #ma6on is one
of the most widely available and easy to
use. #lso makes mention of <mashwords,
see below.
Boo& i+ Pri+t.
/. >reate<pace, which is owned by
#ma6on, is a great print-on-demand
service. !his means no inventory. 5ooks are
printed when ordered. >reate<pace
charges a printing fee and a cut is taken by
each channel that sells the book. .for
instance, *'; for #ma6on/ and you keep
the rest.
0. ?sing >reate<pace you do not need to
buy an I<5N .International <tandard 5ook
Number/ which contains author, publisher,
si6e, format, topic related information,
pricing and other data needed by retailers,
libraries, and book distributors. >reate
<pace provides this for free.
0ou would be well served by locating and
reading +amont-s article.
Per%o+al E1*erie+2e
My "rst experience publishing a paperback
was through >reate<pace. It was the end
result of converting an @ %$) by %% inch
group manual, "rst into a Microsoft word
document through the O>A process .optical
character recognition/, and then over the
Internet, where >reatespace printed the
publish-on-demand book.
!he long and the short of it is that
>reate<pace could convert and publish the
document as a paperback for less money
than it cost to copy an individual mauscript
at OiceMax. Bven with freight, by buying
)C or C' copies at a time it was cheaperD
but more importantly it is also a far
superior product.
!here is a learning curve, but it is not that
diicult. >reate<pace has customer service
representatives that are the best in the
business and are available almost
immediately by telephone
Ki+le Dire2t P!$li%hi+, 3KDP4 #
S5a%h"or%
7indle 1irect 8ublishing .718/ and
<mashwords. 5oth of these publish ebooks
and distribute them to multiple platforms
for a small cut of the sales. I have not used
either of these services.
S5a%h"or% St6le G!ie
I have read
<mashwords,
Smashwords Style
Guide by Mark
>orker. I have
included a few of
Mark-s tips on
formatting in the
#ppendix. I have also
read the instructions
provided by #ma6on E
718. 5oth are self-
publishing portals
that convert
documents which can be prepared on
Microsoft Ford, Ford8ad, and Open Oice
among other word processors into ebooks.
0ou need to follow their rules, some
formatting is necessary, but both provide
ade2uate instructions to make the process
possible.
5oth would be worth researching if you
decide to publish as an ebook.
S!55ar6 # Re%ear2h
I did some research on the Internet to get a
perspective on how other on-demand-
publishing space "rms prices compare with
>reate<pace.
I used >reate<pace to publish the
manuscript I mentioned above. I published
it in two si6es .part of a learning process/.
In all of my many contacts with
>reate<pace personnel I have always
encountered friendly, helpful, and
technically trained personnel. If you choose
to go with them I believe you will be
satis"ed with their completed product and
pleased with their support sta.
I checked through all the orders I placed on
those books. I added the cost of the books
and the cost of shipping and divided by the
number of books in the order. In that way I
obtained the individual cost of a book and
the average cost of shipping. I am showing
a table listing six print-on-demand
publishers and their costs based on their
own web pages.
#ll books are black and white trade paper
books. I have reviewed print copies from
>reate<pace and the 1iggy8od. I-m
assuming that other publishers comply with
the standards for black and white trade
paper books. If no indication is given
regarding I<5N the publisher includes it
for free when you set up the book. Fhere is
not included I-m showing the cost. I am
guessing on the cost of mailing.
!his information was compiled on #ugust
%(, )'%*. I obtained it for personal use, so
if you have any 2uestions on current prices
please visit the individual publisher-s
website. >onsider this table only as an
approximation.
7o! Have T"o or More of the Ne2e%%ar6
Tool%
#s we have repeatedly indicated the
primary purpose of Microsoft Findows
<peech Aecognition is to produce text.
Microsoft Ford )''GD and later, Microsoft
Ford8ad, Ivona Mini-Aeader and
NaturalAeader %), all do a good Hob of
creating text with Findows <peech
Aecognition.
Ior those that do not have Microsoft Ford,
Ford8ad also enables the inclusion of
images, and either Open Oice or #biword
have the same capability and also add spell
check capabilities. Fe have discussed
converting tables to images and documents
to 81I "les. >heck with publishers to
determine what format they re2uire or
prefer
Pre*ari+, the Cover
!he one time consuming proHect with any
publication, if you intend to do it yourself,
is the preparation of the cover. If this
becomes a problem the are willing to assist
you and for a fee alternate sources will
create covers for you. <ee >reate<pace and
others for details.
ISBN N!5$er
If you publish for resale it is important that
you have and I<5N number for your book.
!o buy one direct from 5owker, a single
number is J%)C. >heaper if you get through
1iggy8od or !he 5ook 8atch, but free if you
publish through the others. 0ou will not use
this to make your "nal determination but is
a consideration.
See the A**e+i1
I have included some suggestions on
formatting, pagination, a substitute for tabs
and other resource information on
preparing a document for publication in the
appendix. !his information is provided as
general information about setting up a
manuscript for publication. 0our publisher
may re2uire somewhat dierent criteria,
but these suggestions will give you an over
view of what might be needed. Aather than
attempting to explain the >reate<pace
process, if you are interested, research
>reate<pace. If yo use another On-1emand-
8ublisher, check with them if you want a
printed book. It appears that <mashwords
or #ma6on would be worth checking if you
wish to produce an ebook.
8alter Me+el%o+
<ee also comments I have made on Mr.
Falter Mendelson in the appendix. It is
worthwhile to download information he has
made available on the Internet. 4e provides
a plethora of information and I believe he is
also in a position to give personal
assistance for a fee.
Other Hel*f!l I+ter+et So!r2e%
<eeK
%. 8h6 A Self9 P!$li%her% Sho!l
Co+%ier U%i+, Li,ht+i+, So!r2e, by
>arla 7ing October )@, )'%%
). Self#P!$li%hi+, a+ Pri+t O+
De5a+, Friters and Bditors. .<earch for
self-publishing and printing./# huge amount
of resources.
G. Ho" to P!$li%h 6o!r o"+ $oo&
o+li+e#a+ 5a&e 5o+e6: !he 9uardian
8ublishing 9uide, the 9uardian !echnology
5log.
Ieel free to search the internet for other
alternatives. !he more you know the more
choices you have. >heck out these sources,
if for no other reason background to assist
you in making your decision if you decide to
publish.