| Seeking Publisher - Here we go again |    |
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Jenny
Gold Star member
Joined : 11 Jan 2008
Posts : 385
Location : Sheffield, England
 |  Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again  Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:58 pm | |
| George,
I'm going to scout around other e-book publishers, as well as Lulu's site tomorrow and see what the going rate is for a book of a similar length (293 pages), then come up with a figure which I think will be attractive. They guy I talked to on the Lulu helpdesk said that they charge 20% of the purchase price.
My brain can't take in much more tonight, I'll post my findings in the morning.
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Jenny
Writing as Victoria Howard
www.victoriahoward.co.uk |
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George Maciver
Four Star Member
Joined : 11 Jan 2008
Posts : 376
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:00 pm | |
| | Will look forward to it. Good night Jenny! |
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Jenny
Gold Star member
Joined : 11 Jan 2008
Posts : 385
Location : Sheffield, England
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:02 pm | |
| Good night handsome! 
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Jenny
Writing as Victoria Howard
www.victoriahoward.co.uk |
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George Maciver
Four Star Member
Joined : 11 Jan 2008
Posts : 376
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:05 pm | |
| Must be the kilt  |
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Shelagh
Admin
Joined : 11 Jan 2008
Posts : 1780
Location : UK
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:05 pm | |
| Nah.
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Shelagh Watkins
http://shelaghwatkins.co.uk/ |
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Jenny
Gold Star member
Joined : 11 Jan 2008
Posts : 385
Location : Sheffield, England
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:07 pm | |
| Sorry, but a kilt does it for me every time!
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Jenny
Writing as Victoria Howard
www.victoriahoward.co.uk |
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George Maciver
Four Star Member
Joined : 11 Jan 2008
Posts : 376
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:07 pm | |
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Pam
Five Star Member
Age : 42
Joined : 02 Feb 2008
Posts : 1212
Location : Nova Scotia, Canada
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Malcolm
Four Star Member
Joined : 11 Jan 2008
Posts : 510
Location : Georgia
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:32 am | |
| Pam,
I also did my book with iUniverse and they included the e-book as well. The problem was, the e-book was only available on the iUniverse site really limiting its public exposure. Since the POD price on amazon for the paperback isn't competitive, I would have liked to have seen the e-book listed there as an alternative.
Was this the same for you?
Malcolm
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Malcolm R. Campbell
http://www.malcolmrcampbell.com |
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Pam
Five Star Member
Age : 42
Joined : 02 Feb 2008
Posts : 1212
Location : Nova Scotia, Canada
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Sat Mar 01, 2008 4:11 am | |
| Hi Malcolm,
Yes it was the same for me - Amazon and Chapters are only offering the hard/soft cover, and the ebook is only available through iUniverse.
Guess I'll know better next time.
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Pam Robertson 
http://andthebandplayedonmylawn.blogspot.com |
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blackrosewriting
Two Star Member
Joined : 17 Mar 2008
Posts : 55
Location : Texas
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:42 pm | |
| Black Rose Writing is a hungry, new publishing company seeking new authors!!!
We believe in forming a personal relationship with the writer: prompt feedback and answers, assistance whenever needed, and learning about our writers rather than thinking of them as just another client.
We never require any money from the authors!
If you have any new work, please give us a chance to read and critique your passionate writings!
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Reagan Rothe
Creator of Black Rose Writing
www.blackrosewriting.com
creator@blackrosewriting.com
Author of - Misanthropy: Book I: The Tower |
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ibookdb
One Star Member
Joined : 25 Mar 2008
Posts : 34
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:19 pm | |
| | Malcolm wrote: | | So far, in the vastness of the internet, I've found it exceptionally difficult to attract prospective readers to blogs and websites, much less gamble $19.95 on the book. |
Something has to be done to reduce that 19.95 number. I won't pay 19.95 for a book even if the book is the next Jack Reacher book and that is the only way I can get it. I will not shell out more than the mass market paperback price (these days I'm too stingy for even that because I get whatever books I want for free thanks to the website - but If I didn't have the website my max payment for a book is 6.98 for a book that I would deem to be known exceptional before buying) and I'm guessing that is what other people feel too.
I try out new authors by buying books at library sales and other cheaper avenues and if I like the book, I will invest in more by the same author. There are hundreds of thousands of books to select from and getting someone to pay 19.95 for an unknown book obviously will be hard.
I say put 90% of the book online for free and if people like it and really want to read the rest, they might shell out something to get the paperback.
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Shelagh
Admin
Joined : 11 Jan 2008
Posts : 1780
Location : UK
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:45 pm | |
| From my experience, the price doesn't seem to matter. If people want the book, they'll buy it and if they don't, they won't -- irrespective of the price.
When Mr. Planemaker's Flying Machine was published in 2005, the dollar was fairly strong against the pound. The book was priced at $19.95 on amazon.com and £12.50 on amazon.co.uk.
By 2007, the dollar had fallen dramatically and Mr. Planemaker's Flying Machine was available on amazon marketplace for £8.64 but, even though I advertised the fact extensively, I saw no significant rise in sales.
The reason that POD books do so badly is very much linked to library sales. If libraries don't buy the books, it is very difficult, and probably impossible, to build a fan base. This is a point I will be addressing later. I have written an article that should be out by the end of this week. I will post a link and start a new discussion about POD publishing.
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Shelagh Watkins
http://shelaghwatkins.co.uk/ |
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Pam
Five Star Member
Age : 42
Joined : 02 Feb 2008
Posts : 1212
Location : Nova Scotia, Canada
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:57 pm | |
| When I was researching about book prices, I found the same thing that Shelagh did - it's not price that is the issue, it's getting people to pick it up and open the cover to peek at what is inside. It takes a lot of royalties or individual private sales to recoup the costs of a book: proofreading (had to buy all my friends dinner and wine, and even then they left mistakes in the manuscript), editing and marketing efforts are not cheap whether you publish yourself or not. I cannot make a living at this if I am bound to teeny royalties or discount book sales.
I love having my books in libraries, it's amazing, and great PR for my local market. But I need copious copies of them to be on people's bookshelves (wood shelves or virual ones), alongside their other dogeared favourites have been paid for. I don't advocate the starving artist lifestyle; not that I need to be filthy rich or anything, but I sure as heck don't want to go back to working in someone else's office because I only make 40 cents a book.
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Pam Robertson
http://andthebandplayedonmylawn.blogspot.com |
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ibookdb
One Star Member
Joined : 25 Mar 2008
Posts : 34
| | Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:31 pm | |
| | Pam wrote: | When I was researching about book prices, I found the same thing that Shelagh did - it's not price that is the issue, it's getting people to pick it up and open the cover to peek at what is inside. It takes a lot of royalties or individual private sales to recoup the costs of a book: proofreading (had to buy all my friends dinner and wine, and even then they left mistakes in the manuscript), editing and marketing efforts are not cheap whether you publish yourself or not. I cannot make a living at this if I am bound to teeny royalties or discount book sales.
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I think Shelagh is doing a great job with publicizing her books online. She is everywhere  But even at £8.64 the book is as expensive as Hardcovers from popular authors. It's like an indie band trying to sell a CD for more than the price of the latest sensation without having the potential buyer listen to the music. So I think one of the two has to happen.
1 - You need to get lots of spectacular reviews at lots of major popular sites, blogs etc. and price same as the big guys.
2 - Get spectacular reviews at a few sites/blogs etc and price < big guys. Put the first half of the book online. Maybe reading that might get some more readers interested.
I'm a thriller reader, and say new author X has convince me to buy X's book. For that I need to know
1. It is good (reviews/social networking/general buzz/quality of the cover/great blurb)
2. It costs as much or less than other books that I deem good (= price of book by famous author Y in same format).
(Unrelated: My personal favorite format of books is the same size as this book - http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Pitchfork-Derek-Stillwater-Novel/dp/0738708836/ref=pd_sim_b_1_img)
| Pam wrote: | | I love having my books in libraries, it's amazing, and great PR for my local market. But I need copious copies of them to be on people's bookshelves (wood shelves or virual ones), alongside their other dogeared favourites have been paid for. I don't advocate the starving artist lifestyle; not that I need to be filthy rich or anything, but I sure as heck don't want to go back to working in someone else's office because I only make 40 cents a book. |
Random Idea: Maybe self published authors can promise to send a signed card to anybody who reviews their book on a site of their choice and put this fact on the back cover of the book, randomly put copies out in the wild.
I wish I could just run ibookdb.net and quit my day job too But I can't charge thousands of $ in advertising yet because the site doesn't yet deserve it. I only charge from $50 onwards. If you look at Myspace their tiers start at 3k - http://www.myspace.com/modules/common/pages/sales.aspx . But one day, hopefully ibookdb.net will pay me enough to quit and move to Honolulu
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