Publishing Fear Free: Partners

Choosing the right partners for your self-publishing business venture is critical. At this point, you will likely want to have both a paperback and ebook version of your novel or non-fiction book, and this means you'll be partnering at least two companies: a printer/distributor and an ebook seller/distributor. So let's talk about physical books first:

With the advances in printing technologoy, I recommend using a Print-on-Demand (POD) service. In the olden days of publishing, a self-publisher had to order a certain number of books, which required a large outlay of cash and a place to store them all until they could be sold. And while this avenue is still available, this is a huge financial risk, and it is one you do not have to take. With POD and online bookstores like Amazon and BN, there is no requirement to purchase any books upfront, and in fact, they are only printed when a customer orders one from a retailer.

But isn't that slow? No. I have found that POD books can be created and shipped in less than 24 hours.

But what about quality? Well, as far as ink and paper, I can see no difference in my POD book and any other paperback out there. However, the covers are all glossy, and many on bookshelves today are matte. There is no raised relief type option. It's just a very nicely printed glossy cover.

I chose to do business with CreateSpace, an Amazon-owned printer/distributor of paperback books. The book is automatically listed on Amazon and distribution can be expanded to include other retailers such as BN and to libraries etc. Even though I had a cropping error on my first proof, I have no complaints whatsoever with CreateSpace. Their customer service was excellent and the matter was resolved with no pain. Five stars.

You may also choose to investigate Lightning Source for your paperback. Their process is a bit more challenging in that you have to set yourself up as a publisher to use their service.  They are also a bit more expensive per book, but I have heard that the quality is similar.

These two printers are responsible for many paperbacks out there today, including those of larger publishers.

For more information and a wonderful, in-depth comparison of both printers, read Robin Sullivan's post here.

If you must have a hardcover, look into Lightning Source or Lulu.com. I elected to forego this option because it made the book too expensive, and one of my goals was to be as economical for the book-buyer as possible.

Now for ebooks: I recommend three companies for your ebook distribution.

I use Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing for my Kindle edition. The folks at Amazon really got this right. I did have a bit of trouble finding a good guide for formatting at first, but then I came upon the Smashwords Style Guide and my problems were solved. More about that in a bit. Their reporting is fast and accurate, and their customer service is wonderful. Your book is treated the same as any traditionally published offering; you get the same exposure using the "customers who bought this also bought" feature and their search engine is thorough. Five stars.

I also use BN's PubIt!, which is their version of KDP. This is a very new service and promises one day to be like KDP. Unfortunately, I have had nothing but trouble with it so far. My file was corrupted during upload, resulting in a page count error. Their sales reporting is very slow, and they have frequent glitches. Sales reports were blank for all of January, meaning I had no idea if my marketing was effective. PubIt also seems to segregate the traditional and self-published books and treats the two differently. Self-pubbed books do not have access to all the marketing features such as "customers also bought." And BN's search engine is awful. Half my search keywords do not work, and at this time, my book is basically unfindable unless you seach the title or my name. Casual book browsers will never find it. PubIt's customer service needs work. They direct people to an unmonitored "help board" and take forever to respond to email queires. There is no phone number, and no one at BN seems to know anything about PubIt if you call there. I have had no end of frustration with PubIt, but I do have high hopes that when they get it together, it will be just as good as Amazon. I think they underestimated the number of people who would want to use their service and that they will soon have things worked out. So three stars with room to grow.

Smashwords is my distributor to all other ebook retailers–iBookstore, Kobo, Sony, and Smashwords.com. I am pleased with this service; it's easy and it gets you into retailers that indies cannot access alone. They provide an in-depth Style Guide, which can be used to format any ebook, not just those destined for Smashwords. You upload one file, and the Smashwords Meatgrinder program converts it into all relevant ebook formats. Then, you can elect to open distribution to any retailer you chose, including Amazon and BN. My only issue with Smashwords is their slow reporting. Their customer services is excellent though. Four stars.

So, those are my partners. I've enjoyed working with them all, for the most part, and I am certain that as this method of publishing catches on, further improvements will be made.