I am currently reading a book called “The Fine Print of Self-Publishing” by a lawyer/author named Mark Levine. He really breaks down the types of publishing available to authors and helps people avoid being ripped off. It is not easy finding choosing the right way to publish a book, but the great thing is that we have many options available to us today.

1) You maintain all book and ancillary rights. You CAN sell these rights to movie companies, etc. and keep 100% of the proceeds. Many traditional publishers DO pay you for these rights, but it is an advance against future earnings, so you WILL pay that money back before you make a dime yourself.

2) You set your own royalties, up to 50% of the RETAIL price. Traditional royalties are usually only between 5% to 12% to all but their most well-known authors.

3) Average time to bring the book to market is 3.5-4 months, as opposed to 1-2 years with traditional.

4) Your book is available for sale through the nation’s largest distributor for 2 years. You can pay $20 per year after that to keep the book available. With traditional, if the book doesn’t sell well within the first 6 months, it can be made UNAVAILABLE for the remaining period that your book’s rights are owned for (up to 7 years).

5) Although a book’s success IS tied to the author’s ability to promote it, AuthorHouse has an extensive list of marketing options to enhance the books chances of being successful. There are options for every budget.

6) AuthorHouse has a “non-exclusive” selling arrangement. An author can sell their books to whomever, however they wish. The author can sell directly to customers, other distributors, bookstores, bulk buyers, non-traditional markets, etc. An author is free to sell their book rights and go to another publishers with no penalty or red tape at any time. I believe that the author has to give 30 days advanced notice. So I could self-publish my book in a quicker time, make it available for sale at over 25,000 bookstores and online retailers, sell some copies & make money now, and STILL be able to shop it traditional. All the while building credibility as my books are selling.

I did extensive research on self-publishing and found AuthorHouse to be the nation’s largest self-publisher. Looks like they’ve been in business for 10 years and are already #1 in their field.

I just feel that my initial investment, whatever it might be with AuthorHouse would allow me to control my book’s rights, get it published quicker and I can STILL shop the book to traditional publishers. I have to figure that it would make my chances of being published traditionally easier when I can prove that I’ve already sold some copies.

Keep in mind also that AuthorHouse DOES have a guaranteed placement program available at a fee with Joseph-Beth/Davis-Kidd. I’m sure I’ll invest in SOME type of marketing options that they offer, because they seem to have had a lot of success with their press releases and other ways to help me get my foot in the door with bookstores, and local media outlets. Hope this helps. Just felt that the WHOLE story needed to be told. Do the research and you’ll see what I mean.

Yes, AH distributes to reputable booksellers like Barnes & Noble and the books will appear in their book lists, but AuthorHouse fails to disclose that these bookstores often will not stock these books on their shelves, even if you ask. This is because stores found that self-published books are usually low to poor quality in content and appearance and are often overpriced. It usually hurts their business to stock them because they rarely sell. And not having the book on their shelves means you likely won’t sell any through these avenues, so forget counting on those royalties.

A customer can put a special order through, but it most likely won’t happen. They are looking for quick, easy purchases and will likely grab the next book on the shelf with the same topic because they can get it now.

If you market your tushy off you might get the big stores to stock your self-published book, but most people don’t have the platform or know-how to do it, and many self-published authors have found themselves stuck financially or with boxes of unsold books or both.

There is frequent discussion among writing circles about the pros and cons of self-publishing. There are pros, but they are usually for the book with a small audience, the person looking for a family keepsake, or for one who has a well-established platform with the means to sell books. These usually do not match the standard person.

As a writer, I encourage anyone serious about writing to learn the craft, learn how to submit to traditional publishers, and keep honing writing skills. It helps to connect with local or online wriitng groups. Yahoo Groups has several available.

Happy writing~