Book Publishing

[Cindy]

Ok, I have been looking up some prices and IF (big if) I decided to self-publish my story/book it would cost someone to buy it 20-25 US dollars. To me that is a lot of money for a book - no matter how good it is.

My questions to you guys are these:
-Would you buy a book that cost 20-25 US dollars?
-If so, why?
-Is 20-25 dollars a good price or not for what I have written?
-Would other people that you know be interested in it as well?


My book is nowhere near ready for publishing, but I'm looking at prices to self-publish it (didn't really like what I found...) and am also looking into getting it published by a publishing company. The only problem with the latter is that it will take 3 months to a year for it to get published if it was accepted. Another big if.

Another, much cheaper, option is for me to sell it as an e-book. It would only be available for use on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Price range would be from 1-3 US dollars per e-book. I don't particularly like this option as I dislike reading books on a electronic device, but it is a cheaper option if you guys think that it would sell.



Just am wondering what ya'll think about the ideas I have had and would appreciate some feedback.

[Edited on 3-1-2012 by Cindy]

[SeeJay]

Hi Cindy.

I by books that cost more than that if it's my favourite author (Tom Clancy).

I do look for prices below that (normally 10-15 dollars).

You're stury is great so far, but as you said, it's far from beeing a book yet.
I prefer reading books in paper format, not electronic ones.

Going through a publisher is time consuming, but I think it's worth it if you still have lots to write.
You might get some good hints from then on the way.

Electronic books might be faster but you will have to sell MANY books to earn some cash.

Good luck and keep up the good work!

[airassassin]

One thing you can do is go to your local college and ask a marketing teacher if their students can figure this out as a project. You can say this will give them real world experience. If you don't want to do that then you can just look at other books that are like yours and just price it slightly under them. Like if they are $20 make yours $18.99

Anyways, try to make a digital copy of the book on Amazon and I will link it to my Tech Reviews and Help site. IDK if that will help but it's free advertisement.

BTW if your in this to get money it's not really about what you like. Like you said you don't like reading books on electronic devices which is highly understandable but your not selling it to yourself. I would suggest doing both electronic and physical so you hit both markets.

Also, you can make a audio version. I'm not a 100% sure on this but I think more people buy audio books if the author reads the book.

[Edited on 3-1-2012 by airassassin]

[Raynor]

BTW if your in this to get money it's not really about what you like. Like you said you don't like reading books on electronic devices which is highly understandable but your not selling it to yourself. I would suggest doing both electronic and physical so you hit both markets.

Also, you can make a audio version. I'm not a 100% sure on this but I think more people buy audio books if the author reads the book.

[Edited on 3-1-2012 by airassassin]

Isn't it a bit over-optimistic for someone who's not a professional writer and (self)publishing their first book? Dream big maybe but start small (doing anything else can only lead to disappointment and discouragement).

Personally i don't even buy a book at 25$ from a writer i love (you can get pretty much any book you might want for 5$ or lower nowadays in used book stores, online or off). The truth in self-publishing is the odds that anybody other than your mom and close friends will buy your book are extremely slim so an audio book seems to me at this point like a waste of effort if you're anything but a published writer.

Again i probably will come across as an a-hole but i don't think it serves a budding writer's interest to delude themselves in their market reaching potential.

[BLEVE]

Another, much cheaper, option is for me to sell it as an e-book. It would only be available for use on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Price range would be from 1-3 US dollars per e-book. I don't particularly like this option as I dislike reading books on a electronic device, but it is a cheaper option if you guys think that it would sell.



[Edited on 3-1-2012 by Cindy]

Another E-book route is through Amazon/Kindle. There are quite a number of self published Sci-fi books on that medium.

A word of advise, get someone really good at grammar and spelling to edit your work before submission. Many a good tale has been ruined by poor syntax and bad spelling.

[airassassin]

Another, much cheaper, option is for me to sell it as an e-book. It would only be available for use on iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Price range would be from 1-3 US dollars per e-book. I don't particularly like this option as I dislike reading books on a electronic device, but it is a cheaper option if you guys think that it would sell.



[Edited on 3-1-2012 by Cindy]

Another E-book route is through Amazon/Kindle. There are quite a number of self published Sci-fi books on that medium.

A word of advise, get someone really good at grammar and spelling to edit your work before submission. Many a good tale has been ruined by poor syntax and bad spelling.

You can hire people on http://www.freelancer.com/affiliates/crua9/ to help you out.

[Edited on 3-2-2012 by airassassin]

[Marvin]

Find a reputable publisher. Pick up a few books and copy down the names and addresses of the publishing companies. Buy or borrow a book from the library on how to publish your work. And read carefully the parts about copyrights. If you go any other route and your work is worth anything, expect it to find its way into public domain or published under sombody else's name. And never argue with your editor. Ever.

[Maarschalk]

You have already gotten some Great Advice from others, I personally would not buy a book over $5.00. And I have not bought a book for reading and entertainment pleasure since coming to the USA 22 years ago. Since most libraries here have free books to read for this purpose and now with the electronic age I do a lot more reading and research online then from books!.......My personal feeling is that the hard reality of publishing a book to make money is that it is not worth it now a days unless you are already very very famous and you have an established huge fan base that like to read books. And even than if you are famous you might have to take a loss in profits but most famous wealthy persons can aford to take a loss!....

[Ravenfeeder]

There are a lot of advantages of going through an agent. The agent has the in with the publishers. The agent, and the publishers know what sort of books sell. A publisher has a professional team who will take your book to pieces, and tell you how to rebuild it. A good editor can work miracles with a book. The publshers have a high influence on book sellers.

Just about any decent book has a thank you page from the author, which, always includes the editorial staff.

[Cindy]

I received a lot of great advice here. Thank you all so much.

My Mom and I talked it over and decided on a plan that we both like. Meh likey plans IF they work. :P

I found a way to safely publish my book for much less than $20-25. About $6 sounds much better to me and I get more money this way then through the other company as well. Getting a publisher is a good idea and I'll be looking into that, but to be accepted my work would have to be much, much, much better then it is. I know that much for sure about getting a publisher.

The electronic books are the cheapest and I could make more money through them than paper books if people bought them. I'd have to put $2 down-payment and then whatever I sell the e-book for, I get. No royalties. No tricks. No strings attached. The way to sell electronic books through Amazon I'm not completely sold on... if something has that many confusing rules about royalties it and I probably won't get along very well. My Mom and I like safe and simple (respectively).

For now I'm not even going to think about creating an audiobook. Maybe later, but doing that would include finding someone to read and record it, a way for me to pay them, a way for me to sell the audiobook, and so on. And no, I'm not to volunteer to be the reader. I tried that before with someones book (not mine) and suffice it to say I'm not a good reader.


You are right airassassin about it not being what I like if I want to make money, but I'm just not sure how well it would sell in an e-book. Would an e-book even sell? Thank you for the offer of free advertising.

Never argue with my editor... now that might be a bit tricky if I don't like what they are doing. Seriously though, I'm going to be asking my English teacher about editing it for me. She is the best person when it comes to grammar and spelling that I know of and I'm sure she won't completely rearrange my book. If she can teach me the correct tenses and everything to do with verbs, nouns, adverbs, pronouns, adjectives, etc., well, she must be good. And yes, sometimes I still revert back to wrong tenses... :P

I'm not worried about anyone taking my book. It isn't that good (I'm glad you guys would differ on that, but it really isn't that well written and the story line probably needs work too). Besides, it isn't like it will ever be a top seller or even close to that. If someone wants to take my book and resell it, that is fine with me, but I'd feel sorry for them when my Dad found out... let alone my Mom... and other family members... or even my teachers... or my friends... doing something like that to me with everyone I have watching out for me... yeah, I'd feel really sorry for 'em.

I'm not famous or rich, but I'm still going to give it my best shot. Someone once told me that I could do anything if I put my mind to it. I have yet to prove that someone wrong.

[DaveK]

Hi Cindy

There are people who just love writing and put their out on the internet for the sheer fun of writing and sharing - not a money maker, but an option; if someone in the trade sees your work and likes it . . . .

There are some small publishers who specialise in genre; there are several for sci fi including pendragonpress.co.uk. I've got an example of their's that is a novella, 83 pages long (24 short chapters) and it cost £5 which will be about $8.

A lot of writers have entered the field by submitting work to such small specialist publishers. Usually they start with short stories which are published in their magazines. Usually though writers aren't successful on the first (few) attempts, but they do get very helpful and professional feedback (which is priceless for a budding author!)

Being UK based I can't tell you of any equivalents over there but an internet search or other people should be able to help.

At a recent SF weekend Convention a group of us were chatting with a couple of established authors in the bar and they said basically, only do it if you enjoy it, virtually no "overnight success" really is - they have honed their skills over a period of time, you need stickability and finally if you can make your living at it, it is a great career!

So - good luck; you certainly have tenacity and enjoy sharing your work with the rest of us.

As I've said to many students over the years who wondered whether their aspirations were realistic - if you don't try, you definitely won't live your dream and you will never know whether you could have

Don't forget the homework though

[Edited on 9-3-2012 by DaveK]

[Marvin]

What Dave said. Keep in mind that the greatest Sci-Fi writer of all time, Isaac Asimov, didn't get published until he was in his late teens ... and even then it was in a magazine. Unfortunately, magazines in the U.S. don't sell like they did in the 30s. But there is no law against submitting your work to a publisher in the U.K. ... or Amazon (where I now buy most of my books, thanks to the Kindle I got for Christmas).

[DaveK]

At the Sci Fi convention I went to, I found that there are a handful of small publishers who have their own fields: - steam punk, cyber punk; hard SF, Gothic (vampire werewolf etc but in contemporary times), space opera. You really need to know about them because the big bookshop chains don't necessarily support then. I'm in the UK in Leeds (a major city in the North of England) and we have one (yep, one) bookshop left.

[bjacks]

Personally my advise would be, go try sell it through an ebook first see how it goes, it could also get some publicity over that since it is already a growing trend nowadys plus you wouldn't have to spend so much on paper publishing. then if your book really sells enough then you can opt to publish it on paper at least you know your target market by then.