Self-Publishing, Ghosting, and Other Expensive Ideas

Denise wrote and asked, "What do you mean when you say someone 'self-published'?"

Normally an author sends his or her agent a proposal. The agent shops it to a royalty-paying publishing house, who signs a contract, produces the book, and sells it to stores. The author licenses the sales rights to the publisher, so instead of actually "selling" the book, the author's job consists of chatting it up, helping promote it, and complaining that the publisher isn't doing enough marketing.

That's the "normal" route a book follows. But sometimes an author will choose to go directly to a printer, have his or her own copies of the book produced, and then try to sell the book directly. Under this arrangement, the author pays for all the production costs (editing, cover art, ink, paper, binding, shipping). Therefore, the risk is great. However, if the author can actually sell some copies, his earnings will be much greater. Instead of making a dollar in royalty for each book, the possibility exists that he can make ten dollars for each book sold.

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I was able to say that with a straight face. Okay, in reality, the author knows NOTHING about producing books. So he (we're going to assume a male author, since nobody can tell most men anything) pays too much for a bad cover. (Self-pubbed books are notorious for bad covers.) He sends it to the printer who says they'll edit it, but don't. (Self-pubbed books are similarly notorious for poor editing.) He hopes for good quality ink and paper. (Take a guess at what goes in this parenthetical note.) He pays too much for each book, has no contacts for marketing it, and, worst of all, doesn't know how to sell them after he's talked with his relatives, neighbors, and steadily shrinking network of friends. He goes in debt $12,000, but he can puff his chest out at his 20th high school reunion, since he's now "An Author." That's the game, Denise.

Of course, there are two reasons people continue to self-publish... First, because there's a sucker born every minute. If you want to throw your money at a project in order to feel better about yourself, who am I to stop you? Second, because occasionally an author will educate himself. He'll invest in a real cover artist, send his manuscript to a legit editor, and team up with a quality printer. He'll find a great marketing company to help get the word out on his book, then throw himself into promoting it. And, above all, he will research and invest in sales channels, so that he stands a chance of earning back his investment. The few who do this often speak to groups, so they can sell them in the back of the room, or they know their audience extremely well, and understand how to reach potential readers. But this doesn't happen very often. Short of playing the ponies, pulling the handles of slot machines,  or buying stock options, I know of very few ways to lose money as fast as self-pubbing. More power to you!

Mary wrote to ask, "I have a friend who wants me to write his autobiography. He wrote a few pages -- they were poorly crafted, but sweet. I told him there's no market for this, but he insists I write it for him, and he has family money to finance it. How do we determine payment?"

Wow. If he's writing out checks randomly like this, ask him if he needs a consultant. I'd be happy to have him send some of that money my way, Mary. Okay, here's a quick way to determine payment... Look at the project and figure out how long it will take you to write. If you can create about four or five pages per day, and he wants 100 pages, you should be able to get it done in a month. (It takes a bit of experience to look at a project and figure out how long it's going to take, but let's say a month of full-time writing.) Now you have to figure out how much you want to make in a month. If you had a normal job, and worked for a month, maybe you'd make $4000. Since you have to pay your own taxes out of this, charge him $5000 and you're all set. (And yes, the $5000 price tag will probably scare away most people anyway.) Having told you all that, you should know the $5000 figure is low. 

Not everyone charges by "time on project." Some charge by the word  or by the hour. Last year, the average hourly ghostwriting fee in this country was $73 (it ranged between $50 and $100). It's hard to determine the average overall project fee for this type of thing, but I can tell you the average fee for an "as told to" book in this country was about $22,000...but it usually ran about four months, so my $5000-for-a-month estimate is pretty close to being spot on.

Of course,  you may want to heed my advice from an earlier post: If anyone asks you to write their memoir and they are not a celebrity, run the other way. Some day you'll thank me for this bit of wisdom.

And Linda wrote with the question, "What do you think of the services of The Writers Edge and ECPA's First Edition? Do these work?"

For the uninitiated, "The Writers Edge" (writersedgeservice.com) is a private company that solicits author proposals, then produces a printed report that is made available to Christian publishers. You list the title and genre, write your own short book description, and can use up to 75 words to explain your credentials. For that, they charge you $95. They claim that last year they placed 18 books with publishers, though they don't list the projects or the publishers.

The people at Writers Edge are very nice. They mean well. But I'm not a fan. I don't know of many editors who have the time to wade through a monthly report of unsolicited ideas on various ideas in random genres. In fact, I don't know of any significant editor who has contracted a book from this service. I'm not saying this is a bad idea, only that, in my experience, it hasn't been a boon to authors. I still think an author with an agent is much more likely to get his or her project reviewed -- in fact, I believe a well-rehearsed pitch at a writing conference would make a stronger impression than a brief description in what amounts to a printed slush pile.

ChristianManuscriptSubmission.com (formerly known as "First Edition") is run by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). It's similar to Writers Edge in that you list the title and genre, but they allow you to give a 500-word description of your book, a complete Table of Contents, and a 3000-word sample chapter. Rather than producing a printed brochure, they post the proposals on a web site available only to the publishing members of ECPA. The cost is $98 to have your book listed for six months.

In theory, this is a better deal -- you get more words, and you would think that ECPA members would be checking the site. But in truth, the same criticisms hold true. I know of no editors (at ECPA houses or elsewhere) who are short on proposals. So put yourself into an editor's shoes... Would you prefer to contract with someone you don't know, or with an agent you know and trust? Would you rather be reviewing random pieces on a web site sent in by anyone who can afford the fee, or a handful of polished proposals sent in by agents you've done business with in the past? There are thousands of unpublished authors trying to peddle their manuscripts, so this has created the biggest electronic slush pile on the planet. I just don't see that it's an effective tool.

I'm sorry -- I'm an agent, and I know this sounds completely self-serving. But I used to be an editor, a senior editor, and a publisher, and I can tell you with certainty that the publishing business has moved away from the do-it-yourselfer and toward the professionals and specialists.

Does it hurt to participate in The Writers Edge and/or Christian Manuscript Submission? Of course not. And maybe you'll be the one who gets noticed. But using that logic, you may want to also buy a lottery ticket, so that after you win, you can purchase your own publishing house. Business moves from less sophisticated to more sophisticated -- from amateurism to professionalism. It's why most houses only review agented submissions.

Comments

[Linda Harris]

Thanks for your answer, Chip. It's just as I suspected. It seems there are better ways to spend my money than putting my proposal in a printed or electronic slush pile.

As a side note, a friend of mine did this and got a contract, but I'm not sure the publisher was really legit.

[Deanna]

Your comment, "Self-pubbed books are similarly notorious for poor editing," reminded me of a question. For years I've wondered whether editors have less time and opportunity these days to edit. I'm reading a (publishing house pubbed) book now that reads worse than one of my own first drafts - repeated words throughout most paragraphs, passive voice, lackluster prose, and so on. (Its author is a respected columnist.) To a degree this gives me hope; I'll edit my ms. forever before submitting. But if I do land a contract someday, will my editor actually edit the project? In other words, who edits books most, and when?

[Timothy Fish]

You are right, there are a lot of bad covers in self-publishing. The solution, it would seem, is to write a Christian non-fiction book. That way you can just plaster your own picture on the front of the book like Joel Osteen, Tony Dungy, Billy Graham or one of these other guys. That way, not one thinks it is a bad cover, they just think that you are someone important that they haven’t heard about yet.

Other than that, me thinks you paint a more dismal picture of self-publishing than is realistic. Self publishing does not require thousands of dollars. An author can do self-publishing for less than what is required for six months of Christian Manuscript Submission, but what he don’t pay for he will be doing himself.

There are many reasons why someone might decide to go with self-publishing. Probably the most common reason and the worst reason to go with self-publishing is because the traditional publishers and literary agents won’t touch the manuscript. An author might choose to self-publish because the subject matter will become obsolete before a traditional publisher can get his machinery in gear or because the book has a very limited audience. I know of one man who has written a book about the history of one local association. I am glad that he has written it and I want a copy, but I would be surprised if he sells fifty copies. No publisher is going to touch something like that, but it is a very important book to the fifty people who will read it.

I chose to self-publish Church Website Design because I came a across a website where a guy explained how he had published his own book. I thought the content of his book was boring and the cover was terrible, but I thought it looked like fun. I picked a topic for which I am an expert. I wrote the book, did the typesetting, and designed the cover. The majority of it is focused toward a very limited audience. I do not expect to receive any phone calls from traditional publishers, begging for the right to publish this book. To date, I have made $300 profit on this book. That at isn’t anything to brag about, but it is in the black. It sure beats putting the same information on my website and giving it away free.

[chip]

Linda: That's the thing...is Writers Edge or CMS leading to legit publishing deals? If so, they would seem to be extremely rare.

Deanna: Editing is most often done by an in-house editor (at least at major houses), and occasionally by outside specialists. And yes, the quality varies. Editing is in the eye of the beholder.

Timothy: You can publish a book for less than $98? Sure...if you xerox it. I'm not talking handmade copies -- I'm talking about creating real books. And if all the publishers and agents don't think a project is salable...well, it's just possible everyone is right.

[John Robinson]

Barnum was right. The problem, as I see it, is any schmoe with access to a home computer is now free to engage in Author: The Roleplaying Game. And with a plethora of shady joints like PublishAmerica and iUniverse right there (and ready) to vaccuum the wallets of those unwary folks, the problem is likely to only grow worse.

[Nicole]

"Of course, there are two reasons people continue to self-publish... First, because there's a sucker born every minute."

That would be me, I guess.

You left out one other reason . . . which would probably seem spiritually bizarro to the professionals. So, no need to waste words on that.

I would agree that the "average" self-published book is inferior in quality in both writing and production. I would also agree without a superior marketing plan, those books are going to collect dust on their unopened boxes.

But in light of the mistake-laden novels I've read from each of the big name CBA publishers, the proofreaders/editors have nothing to brag about in that department.

A graphics artist helped me design the cover of my first self-published novel, and I love it, as have others. I also like the cover design on my second self-published novel, tweaked until I was happy with it.

Would I have preferred to have my work "professionally" published by a name publisher? You bet I would. But I'm no spring chicken, and I guess you can fault me for my impatience. Or you can assume I'm a lousy writer, if you'd prefer.

[Lauren Sylvan]

Chip,
Tim Fish has it right. You get the same paper and ink as everybody, and it costs $95 to set up a 300-page 6x9 perfect-bound paperback. Then to print that book is $5.40 per copy, purchased one book at a time, plus shipping and handling. Discounts for orders over $100. And all the big publishers use this exact same printer.
The physical book printing part is now dirt cheap. There are still people doing it the expensive way, but they aren't doing their research.
It's so inexpensive, I print three or four different trial versions to run by my critiquers. Also helps test-market covers.

[Lisa DeLay]

Now you've done it, Chip. The tears and hateful letters are going to pour in. So harsh! Throwing away their money? Writers need agents/specialists? Electronic slush piles? Gasp. What are agent-less writers or bad writers going to do now, I ask you? Where was your "window of hope" for people like Denise? Stop crushing dreams, Chip. (I'm only kidding, of course, but, Mary Poppins, you are not. Spoonfuls of sugar are nowhere to be found.) Maybe the next installment could have a double dose of Christmas cheer or something. ha ha ha.

[chip]

I'm sorry, but you're comparing apples to oranges, Lauren. You may print four different versions to run by your critiquers, but that's completely beside the point. I'm not talking about somebody choosing to create a sample copy to show their friends. I'm talking to real writers about creating and selling actual books -- books that are commercially viable, not ego-stroking trophies that you bang out at home. If you want to print up a half-dozen copies of something, go right ahead. But that's a different discussion from the one we're having about writers making a living with books.

[Stevie Rey]

Hee Hee,
Ye crack me up, Chip. Yeah, that's why I did'n go the self-pubbin' route. I did'n have nary a penny to give to Debtsurge ner authordunlostthehouse.com. My cover does look kindly homemade, but I meant fer it to come out that way. One a my blog readers designed it. As fer my editors...me and Jesus. The great thing is when ye write in Hillbilly, cain't nobody tell when ye messed up much, cuz the whole thing looks kindly messed up! True story...while I was writin' THB spell check just up and quit on me! This here msg come up "You are beyond help. You don't need spell check. You need a lobotomy. - Love, Bill Gates"...well it was somethin' like that.

Grace and Peace,
Stevie Rey

[Timothy Fish]

I believe Lauren's point had more to do with the price and the quality of the printing job more than it had to do with the content of the book. Just think, that next book you read from Zondervan may have been printed on the same machine that Stevie Rey's Hillbilly Bible was printed on. To quote Stan Gundry of Zondervan, "The print-on-demand capabilities of Lightning have been a resounding success for both Zondervan Publishing House and Zondervan authors. We have successfully brought back into print academic and reference titles, and have been able to keep general trade titles in print that would have otherwise gone out of print...and all this in a profitable manner." Lightning Source is the same printing company that LuLu is using. So it is very possible that 20 seconds after the Hillbilly Bible comes off of the machine, a Zondervan reference book comes off.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Stevie Rey’s self-published Hillbilly Bible is going to be as big of a success as a Zondervan title. I have a hard enough time reading his posts; I think trying to get through the Gospel of John would give me a headache. It might sell well in some of the shops in Branson, but for a broader market, I don’t think so. It is a shame that Tom Runnel’s died. He would have been the ideal artist to do a cover for it. But I digress again. The point is that it is not the cost or the quality of the print job that draws that line of demarcation between self-publishing and traditional publishing. Traditional publishers bring other things to the table besides a printing press. Things like money and marketing contacts and the ability to build a brand. In part, they bring improved quality through editing, but they are not going to spend the time to bring a no name, poor quality author up to par. So what an author really has to ask is, do I think highly enough of myself to believe that my work is within that top 2% that traditional publishers accept or am I willing to take the low hanging fruit and run.

[Lauren Sylvan]

Exactly, Tim. Chip, I was simply correcting the statement that the start-up cost to self-publish would be $16K and that the self-published writer needed to market 1000+ poorly-made offset copies out of his garage. That is no longer the case, although some still go that way.
Of course all the other aspects (content, style, craft, editing, layout, cover design, marketing) remain the same. It is the distribution and production that has undergone a transformation.
I'm not pretending that anybody is going to find your title in the 5 million available in the Ingram catalog ($12 per year to be available to every online seller) unless you go out and personally flog it. (In which case, it usually makes more sense to sell it from your own site or at the back of the room at speaking events.) Or that a lousy product can be equated with a good one. It's just that the print-on-demand capabilities have put the physical production in reach of everyone.
So many autor-service companies (iUniverse, LuLu, Winepress, etc. etc.) have taken advantage of this. They too are unnecessary middlemen. It will just take people a while to figure this out. But like the record labels, those in the publishing industry have got to know that the new technology makes it 'the beginning of the end' for things as they have been.
In a sense, I'm not really helping my position either spreading this information. When people see my beautifully produced books, they assume I have gone through some horrifically difficult screening process and that gives me a certain credibility in the layman's eyes. (Publishers, booksellers and writers don't comprise enough of a market for me to worry about.) But even if it costs, I just have this passion for truth.
(Not posted under her real or her pen name.)

[Meredith Gould]

I agree with many...okay, most...of your comments about self-publishing, but find myself increasingly recommending this option to authors.

Case in point: a client of mine who had a ready and waiting back-of-the-room market for his stuff and a talent for sales. His reasonably strong writing skills benefited from rigorous line and then copy editing. He was willing to hire a professional designer for the interior and cover. The final product was affordable (for him) and comparable in quality to anything put out by the majors.

As for me and my house, I established Plowshares Publishing for the sole purpose of producing "Come to the Table: A Catholic Passover Seder" because it was considered too niche by my publisher (Doubleday). This book, which has a seasonal sales pattern, has paid for itself and then some. Other professionals (in addition to moi) worked on it.

In sum, I say it's possible to self-publish a quality title when and if the author has the willingness to put together a team of publishing pros -- and the money to pay them.

[Richard Mabry]

Chip,
Like many neophytes in the game, I paid to have my first novel posted on Writer's Edge. In the meantime, Zondervan asked for the full manuscript--and rejected it. Three months later, I got a letter from another person at Zondervan, based on the Writer's Edge posting, asking for the full manuscript. I smiled when I sent it. I frowned when they rejected it--again.
One more note. I did get several queries from self-publishing companies who were "interested" in my novel from its appearance on Writers Edge. Of course, I also get several queries a week from credit card companies who are interested in my applying for a card.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

[Pam Halter]

Long before I knew anything about publishing, I self-published a book of skits for church youth groups. The box is in my garage. I think I sold 10 of the 250 I orginially printed.

I've learned a lot since then. My husband keeps saying I should bring them to the conferences I attend. He doesn't have a clue. Someday, I plan to burn them ... when I dig them out of everything that's on top. HA!

My friend self-published a middle grade novel. She spent the time and money for editing, a great cover, an incredible website, and a huge marketing plan. She's doing very well with it.

BUT . . . she has no time to write the next book in the series.

My best understanding of who should self-publish is a person whose book has a small, focused audience, like, say, Vietnam Vets. Then you can target groups and go on speaking tours and sell your book.

As always, thanks Chip for sharing your experience and knowledge.

[Susie Larson]

I self published my first book because it was biographical in nature. I never wanted to write my story, but as a speaker, I received lots of requests for it. I did my homework and realized that self-publishing was the way to go in this situation. The book is in its third printing; paid for itself within the first six months, and I've made about ten thousand dollars from the sales.

For me, it was a great way to tip-toe into publishing.

I've since written several books for royalty paying publishers and I am thrilled to have that opportunity as well.

I've been blessed to do both.

[Nick]

Chip is generally right, but I do want to offer a bit of a different perspective from an editor's point of view.

Two of the best authors I've acquired came from those manuscript listing services. In fact, Chip, you now represent one of those authors.

As for self publishing, there are indeed good reasons why one might want to self-publish.

1. If your topic is too controversial for a CBA publisher, but you can sell a lot of copies by speaking.I know of at least one book where this is the case. I'm sure there are others.

2. The topic is a niche topic, but a topic that YOU can effectively sell to, whereas a royalty publisher couldn't. Some self-published books have sold tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of copies IF the author can promote well via radio and other media or personal appearances.

3. If you believe enough in your book to think that you can produce strong enough sales to convince a royalty publisher to take it on. We (a royalty publisher) publish about one book a year that was previously self-published. Right now I'm reading a very well written self-published novel that I will probably take to our publishing committee. And yes, the cover isn't all that great and the editing is quite poor....but I've come to expect that in a self-published novel.

[Nick]

Keep in mind, too, that not all self-publishers are created equal. Some are much better than others. One, in particular, does indeed invest time and money in editing your book. And they generally work harder with you to promote your book than some of the others. If you go this route, be sure and become educated about the self-publishers out there. Ask a lot of questions, not just of the company itself, but of professionals you know within CBA.

[Merrie Destefano]

One thing I didn’t notice anyone mentioning in this particular discussion is the ever-rising cost of paper. (It just jumped again recently.) Back when I was a publisher and in charge of print buying, the only way we could make money on a book (after first deciding that it was the right book for our market) was by printing large quantities.

To me, it seems like the rising cost of paper will eventually cause a problem for POD publishers. The per-unit cost for each book will probably continue to rise, leaving a much smaller profit margin for self-publishing author.

[Timothy Fish]

The cost of paper flucuates at about the same rate for both POD and offset printing. Publishers make the decision about POD vs. Offset based more on expected sales and the setup fees for offset printing rather than on the price of paper.