An Idea for Self-Publishing...

[bmarone]

I'm working on an idea right now that, if all works out, will make the process of self-publishing a book (or whatever it may be) much easier and more straightforward. I won't go into detail about it now, but suffice it to say for now that it will be an auto-publishing web software that is currently not offered by any other company. Yes, I looked into Amazon's createspace.com and Lulu.com, and they're markedly different from, and even inferior to, what I'll be offering. The reason I'm writing this post is I want to see if just such a demand exists right now, or are people pretty much content with what is offered now. I've heard many complaints about what's out there now, and even for me, as I was an author at one time, it seems that options are limited - either hire a professional publishing company or settle for an average self-publishing program that has very few options and makes your book look as though it was written and published on a whim. Any thoughts? Thanks for the feedback.

 

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[Breaking Free]

I'm working on an idea right now that, if all works out, will make the process of self-publishing a book (or whatever it may be) much easier and more straightforward. I won't go into detail about it now, but suffice it to say for now that it will be an auto-publishing web software that is currently not offered by any other company. Yes, I looked into Amazon's createspace.com and Lulu.com, and they're markedly different from, and even inferior to, what I'll be offering. The reason I'm writing this post is I want to see if just such a demand exists right now, or are people pretty much content with what is offered now. I've heard many complaints about what's out there now, and even for me, as I was an author at one time, it seems that options are limited - either hire a professional publishing company or settle for an average self-publishing program that has very few options and makes your book look as though it was written and published on a whim. Any thoughts? Thanks for the feedback.

It would depend on how different your offering is, and what voids it fills that createspace or lulu lacks or doesn't do. Without details, it's tough to see if it's in demand.

 

[COSenior]

settle for an average self-publishing program that has very few options and makes your book look as though it was written and published on a whim.

I would certainly welcome something that would allow for more polished-looking eBooks, as long as it was compatible with Amazon's and Smashwords' requirements. I'm not in the print market as of yet, and wouldn't be interested in that for now.

 

[Lakeview]

I would certainly welcome something that would allow for more polished-looking eBooks, as long as it was compatible with Amazon's and Smashwords' requirements. I'm not in the print market as of yet, and wouldn't be interested in that for now.

Ditto!

 

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[bmarone]

It would depend on how different your offering is, and what voids it fills that createspace or lulu lacks or doesn't do. Without details, it's tough to see if it's in demand.

One example that comes to mind right away is createspace involves the use of templates (or pre-made layouts) that almost always involves a lack of freedom for the user. I never liked the use of templates for that reason and always wanted something with more options for the user. My program will allow the development of covers, images, graphics, text, panels, etc. from scratch in whatever style or format and structure they choose, sort of like microsoft word for the web but with one very big difference (which is the bread and butter of my program, so I won't go into that here).

I would certainly welcome something that would allow for more polished-looking eBooks

It won't be for just ebooks but print books as well and possibly even DVD's and CD's in the future, though that's a ways away yet.

 

[Breaking Free]

One example that comes to mind right away is createspace involves the use of templates (or pre-made layouts) that almost always involves a lack of freedom for the user. I never liked the use of templates for that reason and always wanted something with more options for the user. My program will allow the development of covers, images, graphics, text, panels, etc. from scratch in whatever style or format and structure they choose, sort of like microsoft word for the web but with one very big difference (which is the bread and butter of my program, so I won't go into that here).

While I don't know much about Createspace or their behind the scenes work, I recall them having set sizes and length minimums. I'm assuming this is due to their infrastructure setup, and ability to print on demand. From what you said, it sounds like you would be more versatile in that aspect, allowing someone to print whatever they needed?

If so, that may be a bigger market need than just authors. Custom printing that you can order online, there's a market I haven't thought of.

 

[AndrewNC]

The reason I'm writing this post is I want to see if just such a demand exists right now

Before you do ANYTHING ELSE - go out there and try to make ONE sale. This is the only way to gauge interest. What's your marketing plan? Execute that first. If it works, then you know you wont waste your time building your business.

One of my businesses is a publishing company where I brought three publications into market . I've only put my own stuff out there and haven't dealt with clients yet, so take my advice for what it is. One is a book on Amazon kindle, the other two are on a different outlet. Amazon kindle is easy enough to get the book out there. One can format it in Microsoft word, and their software can bring it to market. Not much of a pain point there. Createspace and lulu make it *easy enough* to get the book out there in paper format. Not a huge pain point there IMO.

I have a number of friends who want to get published and are scared to go the self publishing route. They submit their books to 14 different publishing companies and all get rejected. The pain point that I noticed there is that they want a publishing company to work for them and they don't have the 'resume' to get accepted. They are scared to self publish and don't have a clue about marketing.

If you want to have success in the publishing space, you have to break publishing down into each of it's individual elements:
1 - Actual book creation - get the book formatted and ready to print
2 - Editing services
3 - The binding, paper, printer, etc. - the physical 'book' part of the book.
4 - Graphic design for the cover
5 - etc.

Ok so take each element and break it down into a systemized process. This way creating book 2 is faster than creating book 1, and book 100 can be created MUCH faster. And like I said before - don't waste your time doing any of this until you make a sale. The process will evolve over time.

Ok so great, you helped them publish a book... now what? Will you have a lot of dissatisfied customers because they don't know how to sell?

This is where you stand out from the crowd. Be the marketing branch for their book. Learn to rank on Amazon, how to do facebook ads, google, or be able to get them into a book store...whatever it may be. Price accordingly and only work with them if you think it'll sell.

If you can get them a quality book AND help them sell it THAT'S where I see the need.

My friends who are writers like to write. They don't like doing the rest. They are scared to pick up the phone or write an email. The people on here who know how to sell won't need your service.

But don't waste your time on anything else until you get ONE client on board to hand you money.

just my .02

 

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[bmarone]

This is where you stand out from the crowd. Be the marketing branch for their book. Learn to rank on Amazon, how to do facebook ads, google, or be able to get them into a book store...whatever it may be. Price accordingly and only work with them if you think it'll sell.

I will definitely take that into consideration. Great point to help me think how I can be different from the rest. I will just have to see how I can automate that process to make it easier to scale.

If so, that may be a bigger market need than just authors. Custom printing that you can order online, there's a market I haven't thought of.

That's along the lines of what I'm thinking.

 

[COSenior]

That's along the lines of what I'm thinking.

Reading through the other advice you're getting, it seems to me that you may have too broad a description for your concept. For example, AndrewNC took you more toward the publishing side, and I hope his etc. meant all the prep work for publishing, like editing, proofreading and design to name a few, since he only mentioned post-production stuff. Breaking Free took you into custom printing, for which there are already outlets to consider as your competition. And you responded to my post with a laundry list of different media. Rather than biting off more than you can chew, may I suggest you define the core concept, and then plan ahead for what you can do with it step-by-step. I.e., tackle ebooks first (easiest), then move into print market, etc. Or, however your concept works. AndrewNC mentioned pain points--good place to start. Run a survey, 'Self-published [writers, musicians, artists, etc.] What's your pain point in getting your work published?' Aim your concept there. I personally don't have a real pain point in getting it published, the available tools work okay for me. But just okay, I'd still like to be able to publish a better-looking book. On the other hand, the promotion is a nightmare. It takes time away from my writing that I don't want to take. And yet, it's essential. And that's MY 2c.