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Book Publishing

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MJ DeMarco

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So MJ if you own a book publishing company does that mean when I finish my book you'll publish it for me?

I could, but I won't.

I only publish what I write, despite many submissions and asks.

If I start publishing other people's work, I'd probably have to hire another employee and I would have to answer to authors, in effect, giving myself more bosses.

In short, there is no personal benefit for me to start publishing the works of other authors other than increasing the vanity metrics on my business, which, I don't care about.
 

Steve Myers

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I could, but I won't.

I only publish what I write, despite many submissions and asks.

If I start publishing other people's work, I'd probably have to hire another employee and I would have to answer to authors, in effect, giving myself more bosses.

In short, there is no personal benefit for me to start publishing the works of other authors other than increasing the vanity metrics on my business, which, I don't care about.
OK,... I thought you stated you owned a publishing company. So I'm guessing you just self published your books or do you actually have a couple/few employees? Or do you just sub out the work editor, printer, etc... Just curious as I'll be trying to figure out some answers to my questions myself in the near future. You hear pros and cons for everything. I already have an editor it would be getting it into print for me. Of course then there's marketing which I believe if I sign with a publishing company they take on a lot of that.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Of course then there's marketing which I believe if I sign with a publishing company they take on a lot of that.

LOL. No, they don't.
 

MJ DeMarco

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OK,... I thought you stated you owned a publishing company.

I do, what's confusing about that? I've printed and shipped my own books for over a decade. I only recently started doing more POD to increase the passivity of the business. I have 1 employee, the rest are freelancers used on demand.
 

Isaac Odongo

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I do, what's confusing about that? I've printed and shipped my own books for over a decade. I only recently started doing more POD to increase the passivity of the business. I have 1 employee, the rest are freelancers used on demand.
I think I need to take this direction of self publishing my books early enough. Publishers can keep a fella on the waiting bench for ridiculous months.

It is getting into my bones. And the royalties are goddamn low when using a publisher. I traditional publishers. I don't about vanity publishers.

My only top most problem now is getting something to use to publish my book.
 

Cameraman

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I think I need to take this direction of self publishing my books early enough. Publishers can keep a fella on the waiting bench for ridiculous months.

It is getting into my bones. And the royalties are goddamn low when using a publisher. I traditional publishers. I don't about vanity publishers.

My only top most problem now is getting something to use to publish my book.
I agree that Self Publishing is often much better.

If you only have a small existing audience and/or an unproven book I would recommend going the Print on demand route. You may earn less but you don't have to invest and hold inventory. Someone else also handles the order fulfilment and shipping which is a big overhead.

Also don't rule out the eBook route. I would probably start with that as things like layout are often easier. If the book sells then add print on demand. That's what I tend to do.
 

Shrimpfriedrice

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Hello. Chiming in here.

I launched my book brand in May last year, have sold 10k copies so far! Very excellent. Looking to SCALE now.

MJ, I study your books because you are doing self-publishing properly. You have the community, social media, podcasts, with updated manuscripts and side products to sell alongside the books. A BRAND.

I have a book that is about rainwater harvesting for homsteaders/hobby farmers that is smokin'. I love that about it, because there are people who really need these books. I want to spread it even further. I currently only distribute via Amazon and Ingram Spark. I want to sell more B2B. I have been chatting with Home Depot sellers, etc. I even received a proposal for acquisition from a publishing company that sells to Tractor Supply Co. but was not impressed with their offer. I'd rather figure out the puzzle myself anyway (and retain all the rights).

I need a wholesale distributor to get this book into Tractor Supply, Home Depot, etc.

MJ, there's got to be a process for finding a partner to distribute your books at a bulk scale. I have ideas for who this would be, but were there any pitfalls/lessons learned about finding a distributor that you could disseminate? Since I also have only 1 book so far, with another on the way, the main lever I have to pull is the nationwide need for this book, rather than the size of my audience (about 2k across Facebook and email).

Looking forward to the responses!
Best,
Author Renee Dang
reneedang.com
@authorreneedang
 
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Shrimpfriedrice

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Hi Isaac,

Please see my response to another post I made:

  1. Editing: I understand the importance of a well-polished and professionally edited manuscript. What's the best way to find a good editor who aligns with my vision? Do you recommend any platforms or freelance websites? I have had good, poor, and excellent editors. Good on you for deciding what you want and how you want the outcome/relationship of your editing to look like. I have used Upwork and Reedsy to find my freelance editors. I prefer Reedsy. I pay $1k for about 30,000 words of great editing.
  2. Publishing: I'm considering both traditional publishing and self-publishing. I'd love to hear about your experiences with both. What were the pros and cons, and how did you decide? The pros of traditional publishing are becoming less and less these days, IMO (especially if your audience is small and this is your first book). Publishing houses do have pros: They will assign you an editor, and they will do all the research and work to create a professional cover. They will edit for you. However, it will take 12-18 months from start to finish for it to hit the market. You don't retain creative control. You benefit from the sales team of the publishing company, but your royalties are 5-8% per book, and even less for wholesale. I didn't have an audience on social media or email when I first started. I was flying by the seat of my pants. Self-publishing is as simple as clicking Publish on Amazon (not easy, but simple). Now, there are a lot of things to learn about writing a manuscript that sells well, picking a title and subtitle that sells and is found easily on Amazon, putting your book into the right categories on Amazon, and building an audience/community, as well as building and executing on a launch team. Also, Amazon Ads are useful to continuously selling your books, as well as marketing. I learned all of these skills in a course I took through Publishing.com called Audiobook Impact Academy. Do recommend. Took a few iterations, but finally got the hang of it. You will need to learn and execute on marketing no matter if you are traditionally or self published. I am currently learning about other marketing tools, such as podcasts, guest posting, and publicity through other coaches. One of my favorites is Steve Harrison, who got Robert Kiyosaki and the Rich Dad brand, as well as Jack Canfield and the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand, off the ground.
  3. Marketing & Distribution: I know marketing will be crucial, especially in building an online presence. I'd appreciate any advice or resources on crafting a marketing strategy for a debut book. As a beginner, your biggest levers are 1. Amazon reviews 2. Amazon Ads. 3. Email list. I would focus on those 3 at first. Before you launch your book, in order for it to do well and not die in the Amazon graveyard, you need a lot of Amazon reviews of your book, ideally 100+ within the first 30-60 days. This can be accomplished with a launch team. I went into Facebook and gave out 1,000 digital copies over the course of 2 months before the launch. This can all be done online, luckily. There are other ways to do this. You can leverage your personal network too. Build a very great Amazon listing page for your book beforehand, with a great benefits-forward description. Find Amazon categories you will do well in using Publisher Rocket (a $100 tool that will save you a ton of hours of manually combing through Amazon categories). When you hit the Amazon Publish button, start running Amazon Ads aggressively, ask everyone you gave your book out to to leave a review of your book, and get Amazon's algorithm to take notice of your book. This book over here! It's getting a ton of reviews! Within the first 30 days! Wow! Push that book up to the top of the keyword listings! Use Amazon Ads to continue driving traffic. Then you can coast for a bit. Relax a while. Then step on the pedal again to market via your email list, influencers, podcasts, guest posting....on and on. Forever. :)
  4. Cover Design: A compelling cover design is something I believe can greatly influence a reader's decision to pick up a book. Do you have any recommendations on finding a great cover designer? Reedsy, 99 Designs, Upwork, and Fiverr are common places to find a cover designer. You decide what you want your cover to look like, then go find someone who can deliver this at a great price. I personally never buy my covers on Fiverr or Upwork anymore...I think the value doesn't make sense to me anymore, even for $5. I know my audience, and the resistance to changing their designs to meeting my audience's wants are high there. No idea why. I stick to 99 Designs personally.
In the world of self-publishing, 10k copies in the first year of sales is considered at least the top 10-15% of results. IMHO, this is a great milestone to achieve to as a proof of concept to hit first before having the evidence that this book can then sell 100k copies in a year.

It appears there are a whole other set of skills needed to hit 100k sales/year. Currently I am learning them. I'd master the first set of skills first.
 

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