where I share my experiences with the art of writing, publishing, and book marketing

where I share my experiences with the art of writing, publishing, and book marketing

Thursday, August 15, 2013

My First Journey through Independent Publishing

            After years of catch as catch can writing time,  I finally had a manuscript that didn’t embarrass me. After reading book after book on how to write query and proposal letters, after scouring the writers market book for appropriate publishers, I couldn’t seem to raise interest at the traditional publishing houses, Baen, Tor, Dell, and Bantam to name a few. Several rejection letters were encouraging me to keep trying. Many of my well read friends told me that it was as good as anything out there. So I kept on.  I always imagined that my hard work lay in some dusty basement office under a pile of other hopeful works; while an over educated underpaid associate editor rifled through titles in search of what they deemed an interesting read – dictated by market standards, which were in turn dictated by senior editors and publishers at large.  All of this, while their Italian sub sandwich sat upon a pile of unread, disrespected, and discarded manuscripts dripping its oily dressing into the fine white carefully prepared pages.
To make me feel even more hopeless; the few agents I held interest with briefly, did not act as if representing me was any kind of priority. I know I’m not Clive Cussler, for example but I do expect respect as a client.
My view of traditional publishing has been jaded, as it is and has been with so many of us. So, with the birth of the internet the ever morphing face of publishing changed again.  This time favor goes to the artist—the author
            At first I did not really want to go the self publishing route.  I thought that if a traditional publisher didn’t want me then how would I become respected with a loathsome self published book?  My perspective changed though when I contemplated what independent film makers do. They gather interest in a project solicit funds and produce a film, and if the project is good they gain respect with their peers. Still the expense was hindering.
            Although I had interest in the book, I was unable to solicit funds from family or friends, due to the economy and the current strife of almost everyone I know.  At the time that I published my first book I was a Midwest country girl with no real industry contacts, (I still can’t say I have any industry contacts) and I was a full time student.  So how to fix a cash flow problem and get the damn book published?  Student loans you say? After some careful consideration and several discussions with my then unemployed husband we decided to go for it.  I took several months to research the market of print on demand publishers.  The prices vary as do the services offered.  I compiled a spread sheet that allowed me to compare the companies easily and then when I had three possibilities I delved into online reviews of other books published, company reviews, book reviews, Better Business Bureau ratings, and company website FAQ pages, etc.
            I finally settled on Outskirts Press out of Colorado.  They do have a submittal requirement. I liked that they promoted that aspect of themselves.  They don’t want to publish crap; after all they do have a brand name to protect.  So do I, I don’t want to be associated with hacks either. The pre-publishing process went well, but they like to function via e-mail and when there was something I didn’t understand there were a few well worded e-mails from both sides trying to kindly explain a position.  It was all ironed out and professionally handled in the end.
            The thing about independent publishing is how much money you can put up.  My funds were limited and so although Outskirts offers many high-end marketing options, I could afford very little.  I get a marketing newsletter, which is very helpful with many easy tips about how to handle getting reviews and generate sales, especially via Amazon. They generated and submitted a press release and supplied me with a list of parties interested in receiving the book for review. I get a notice any time the book title is searched via Google (this can be a PR opportunity). All of these things came at a cost, some minimal, $30-$50 others in the hundreds.  With limited funds I was forced into doing my own marketing, something that I have no experience with. So I am learning on the fly, mostly I just explain the situation, pour on the charm, and if there is a question I promise an answer and deliver as soon as possible.  This got me a book signing and print on demand books on the shelf of a major outlet where there policy is not to display print on demand books.
            Something I have learned about Press Releases. I paid Outskirts Press to provide and submit a press release.  I found out later that I could do this for free on PR log (www.prlog.org) and that the publisher used PR Log do it. Just as an experiment I did a google search of each and got a wide range of info. http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0004420.html gave me the top 100 papers in the U.S. listed by circulation, but I had to search further for office contacts. I did another search by cutting and pasting each papers name into the search window and adding  “offices” after that and that gave me very good results.   Newpapers will publish this for free but you are at their mercy for timing and space.  However this would mean a lot of work on my part, and I don’t need more right now. Outskirts did this all for me and the fee was nominal, so I might choose that option again if  I go with a print on demand publisher again. PRLog will do all of this for you and more for $50 or even more for around $400, (at the time of this writing they had a $50 discount going on. check them out at www.prlog.org
I did not pay for a service to track my sales, and found out I can do that for free as well on novelrank.com. Simply cut and paste your amazon.com link  and your ASIN number, author or title into the provided fields on www.novelrank.com.  Do this immediately after your book is released, because it will only go back as far as 90 days at a time. 
I discovered that all books, in order to be displayed in bookstores must comply with the EPA no-lead laws, so be sure that no matter how you choose to have the book printed that you comply. These regulations went into effect in 2009 and are the result of The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA H.R. 4040) of 2008 — commonly called CPSIA.  The legislation is geared toward child safety, but children frequent book stores and so the stores take it seriously and want all books to comply.  In order to have my print on demand books on the shelf of that retailer I mentioned, I had to contact the publisher and have them provide documentation that they were in compliance with the regulation. Later research showed me that all of the publishers I had considered were in compliance, but I in no way covered them all, so protect yourself and be sure. I will probably have my latest book printed at a small shop, so I will have to be sure they are in compliance as well.
            I will be writing future articles onBook signings at local libraries, virtual book tours, compiling a pitch letter as part of a press kit, asking respected people in various fields to read and review books. Of course all of this comes with a learning curve so they will come as I find my way. Feel free to share your own experiences so that together we can make this publishing /marketing road easier for all of us.
Thanks for you time, “see” you next time. 


An earlier version of this unrevised article was previously published on:
www.apolloslyre.com E-zine

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