I am about to teach a six week course in "Writing to Get Published" for writers.com -- starting August 3
Here is what Michael Korda, Editor in Chief, Simon & Schuster, wrote me about that: ...the work I know best is your novel Goodbye, which I edited. What first attracted me was the dazzling prose; I was equally impressed by plot and characterization. A considerable literary accomplishment but also a Book of the Month choice, bringing an impressive price at paperback auction. What may also interest your students, I’ve heard you in discussion with writers like Joe Heller, Patricia Bosworth, Lois Gould and Gay Talese, and remember thinking more than once, Bill ought to be teaching it too.”
for more info: whmanville@yahoo.com

When I first got into it, I was surprised at how little small publishers actually make. It's the pits, but the damn retailers, distributors or wholesalers make more than the publisher, even if the publisher is also the author.

Good Advice . . worth working on.

Thanks Dave

That'll do for now I suppose, but if you want to get big, you'll have to do things differently. You're going to have to get your per book printing cost down four dollars or less, to stand any chance at all of making a reasonable profit. Yes, that can be done, but only with a real printer and some larger quantity orders.

Good Morning Dave,

Excellent advice, and your insight is appreciated. So far, most of our sales have come through our own two web sites, which we promote heavily, and through a coupole of police-connected websites. I tell people "BUY through our wbe site with PayPal, that way we don't have to pay a 'cut' to amazon, et al, and my dog Rico der Hunter III can continue tyo eat (he's a 98 lb. German Shepherd, and he eats a lot).

Thanks,
Mike

Michael Good going on nixing xlibris, they're a rip off, as is Author House and a number of others. You won't see any real return. Not if you ever go big. You're paying way to much for your books, just for the ability to use a POD. If you should get large orders, with distributors and wholesalers taking a cut, you'll be losing money. Amazon wants 55 percent off list price... so you're already down to 12.57 a distributor will get at 30 percent of that, leaving you only 8.79. Figure in other expenses like shipping, printting...oh wait, you paid 18.67 for printing... you're screwed. Unless you're going to sell each and every book yourself at retail, you can't possibly make any profit. I know the business way better than most of you since I work in it every day. Any offset printer worth a darn can produce a not overly large quantity of books at a price that winds up being less per book than any POD printer. If you can buy in ten thousand dollar increments, then you can buy in quantities that will get your books down to a reasonable amount.

Hey J,

Nice tyo meet you too.
Mike

Dave,

As much as I agree with you about Ingram/Lightning Source and, as you have included BookSurge and CreateSpace (both owned by Amazon), I am merely stating that I personally have been very pleased with Lightning Source. I originally researched several POD companies, including XLIBRIS (which is partially owned by Random House), and was prepared to spend over 10K with them (as their 'Consultant' asssured me 'marketing' support from Random House. I ended up nearly going with Lulu, until I found out that for my 408 page novel, (hardcover/w/dust jacket) would 'retail' at $42.95! Damn, it isn't a 'coffee table' or 'Photo Book', and I would not spend that kind of money for it, and I wrote that darn thing!
A friend and I ended up incorporating our own Publishing corporation in order to go with Lightning Source. My novel costs me $18.67 (including shipping), and it retails at $27.95. So even with discounts, we can realize some return.

I do agree with you, and I thinkas technology advances, things wiull be a lot better for Authors who have yet to gain "super-star" status.

Regards,
Mike

They're trying to keep control of the book market, though that's changing in spite of their attempts to keep the status quo. Someday, soon I hope, marketing your books will be as easy as sending an email attachment.

Well, I'm glad we got that straightened out.

I simply don't like their idea of taking over the POD market. Between Ingram's LightningSource and Amazon's BookSurge, they're trying to completely control the POD market. Try getting Ingram to carry your POD book. Same with Amazon these days, it's hell to do, mostly they won't. The POD idea was meant to be much different than it is. The machines were supposed to be at brick and mortar stores, say like Fed Ex Office (Kinko's) or a regular book store...you pick a title, from electronically stored media, then pay your fee, they punch the buttons, boom you have your book. Distorting this and trying to control it ticks me off. They've been sued many times over it, and lost, yet they still continue to try to do it.

I used Lightning Source, beginning in February 2009. Then I visited their exhibit at Book Expo America in NYC on May 28-31. Their product is equal to any "Traditional" publisher (except for dust jacket/covers). They have always been responsive to any questions or concerns I've had with lightning speed. I am quite satisfied with them to this point.

No reason why?
That's like saying please don't drink Coke. Does it taste bad? Is it made from baby fetuses? What?

Please don't use Lightning Source.

Thanks for that. Lightening Source sounds good. I'm really after sending 30-40 books at a time as cheaply as possible. I can buy my books from the US for $8 which is marvelous, but for the cost of getting it to the UK.

I have sent books to England from Miami, Florida using USPS MEDIA MAIL ($17.64 for 1lb.-a4.40 oz.) and to Canada for $8.93 - (1 lb. 14.40 oz.). Ther books I sent were for Reviews, so I felt it worth the expense.
If you can send a book without an authograph, check with Lulu and Createspace about shipping direct. I use Lightning Source and they will ship even one book direct, cost to me is $2.58, which I have already included in my cost factor. Only other way around it I can see would be to charge the purchaser for postage, which may not be well received by the buyer.

Good Luck,

Regards,
Mike Phelps

I use both LULU and Createspace. The latter is very good and I can get my book from them at a very reasonable cost. Postage in the US is $4, but postage to the UK is $20. That means it's not worth getting my books sent to me, for book signings, as it's far to expensive and I would sell them at a loss. Has anyone found a way to post to a third party to ship the books? Any other suggestions?

David