Over at TechCrunch, author James Altucher has written an excellent article about the process of self-publishing his book Choose Yourself. Every entrepreneur should self-publish a book, because self-publishing is the new business card. If you want to stand out in a world of content, you need to underline your expertise.—James …
Tag: Book Production
What’s traditional about publishing
Since the earliest days of mechanized publishing, when Herr Gutenberg was putting ink to paper in what for the time was a staggering pace, there have been printers and publishers and, as noted earlier, these were usually two different people. The publisher paid the printer to produce the book, and …
Choosing your publishing model part 2
The other day, we looked at three of the factors that go into choosing your publishing model: Money, Skill, and Control. Today we’ll finish up. Time Royalty publishing takes a looooooong time. It can take up to 18 months to get a book through the production process. At major houses, …
How to decide which publishing model is right for you
I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the different models for publishing—royalty, subsidy, and do it yourself—and you’ve probably noticed I haven’t come out and said which is best. That’s because none of them are perfect for everyone. There are four main factors to consider when choosing which model …
Does self-publishing violate Yog’s Law?
Many opponents of subsidy publishing criticize it and even some forms of self-publishing because they violate Yog’s Law: Money flows toward the writer. Who is Yog, and how did he become a lawgiver?
Why owning your ISBN is important—or not
When you hire a vendor to produce your book, the company usually provides one of its own ISBNs, which makes it your publisher of record. This is also true if you use the free ISBN provided by Create Space or Smashwords. Bowker is the U.S. registrar for International Standard Book …
Why what you call a ‘publisher’ matters
Last week, I wrote about the differences, slim though they are, between vanity presses and subsidy presses. In the comments, Jennifer wrote, “What a publisher calls itself does not matter. What matters are the terms of the contract.” True. A company can call itself whatever it chooses, but whether it’s …
Vanity press vs. subsidy: What’s the difference?
Q: Earlier you talked about the difference between royalty publishing and a subsidy press. I’ve heard other writers complain about “vanity presses.” Is there a difference between a subsidy press and a vanity press? A: Depends on who you ask. Some people think so-called “traditional publishing” is the only true …
What having a publisher gets you
The self-publishing revolution has a lot of writers asking whether they even need a publisher. It’s a fair question. So let’s take a look at what a publisher does for an author. First and foremost, as I’ve said before, the publisher pays the bill. That is, the publisher fronts all …