Digital Publishing discussion
General
>
Why do you want to become a publisher?
date
newest »
newest »
Been on my mind for the last 20 years to do. Publish my unique genre, financial freedom, and to leave a legacy for my son and grandsons.
Daniel I would like to learn the technique of making a book by hand.
Mod
If you think about the history of books you will quickly see that everything can be made by hand from the paper to the inks. Some things do not need much equipment but other things do.
If you have a unique genre then you must know a little about your potential readers. Knowing where they are likely to be will inform your choices.
legacies are good:)
Yes, I have friends who are artists. Have not looked into book art courses, but will do that.
I am part of an arts council made up of volunteers. Last year we decided to publish an anthology of writings by people in our community, many of whom had no interest in a publishing career. Lessons learned:
1. Edit the heck out of all materials submitted.
2. Submit such edits to the author for approval.
3. Have a permission to publish form.
4. Maintain good written records.
We went with CreateSpace for cost and ease of publishing. Now, the same council is working to set up a publishing company. Small, local, using the same tools.
BTW, we've sold nearly 500 copies of our anthology, which was a fund raiser for the council.
More as we get further into the morass of legalities.
Digital publishing is an extension of much of what I am already doing. Beyond that, it also occurs to me that the workflows and issues I have encountered in publishing my own books could likely have value to others who may lack the time to wander the wilderness and buy the digital tools that are still quite nice to have. I have the tools and the experience (admittedly based on my own projects). I don't see books as art forms and I'm not offering paper-centric publishing skills. I am offering digital publishing skills. It may not be as much as others, but its a start. Within my local area, I've not found anyone offering these skills, so maybe there's a gap that needs filling. We'll see.
Mod
Lesso..."
Depending upon your budget you can look at broader digital publishing comopanies. the brilliance for the individual author of Createspace, LS et al is they automatically farm out the title to Amazon and others through the ISBN network, something you would have to do yourself.
if you buy your own ISBN the first set you buy in the UK registers the name of your publishing house. In Canada ISBN's are free but still need a name attached.
That name and ISBN entitles you to sign up at Nielsen's in the UK and many online retailers get book data information placed there automatically.
Though it has its technicalities this part of the process is actually straightforward and easy to timeline.
The bigger question is not how to get your book online, but how to get people looking for it. That question is answered by your expectations. The different marketing avenues depends entirely on who you think you want to sell to.
Mod
Sharing is what we do. FootSteps publishes many authors and more are coming. There is a need for authors to group together and each one adds their marketing energy to all the others. Using your skills as you develop them to inform and join with others is an essential in the years ahead.
I have made a book by hand and been taught the rudiments of book binding. I have many excellent artist friends and discussed digital printing with a tutor at Falmouth Art College (as was) and helped print our archival quality prints for sale on A2 canon printers on several occasions. Before I ever thought about publishing I knew a good deal about how artists sell their work and a good deal about the growing quality issues - good and indifferent - to do with the digital world.
I had two agents in my time and almost been taken by Heinemann and Penguin for two different books.
It was the corruption in the main publishing conglomerates that made me realise I didn't want to work with these people, that the marketing of authors had little to do with talent and that based on the history of classical design, modern books are often lacking in fine presentation and friendly design.
I am now going to say something that will make most of you leave the group.
Writing is not a business for me, it is an art form. And excellence of expression while a talent, goes hand-in-hand with design.
I would be interested to know your own paths towards setting up digital publishing houses, whether as raising the bar for your own books or because you want to get together as authors and publish in the manner of publishing houses.
I hope this will guide me to know what folders to cerate in the group. I am not averse to foreign language sections but will need moderators for them.