July | 2013 | jeanettevaughan

A woman with a pen and a purpose!

This post is a guest blog post by successful Indie publisher Amanda M. Thrasher of Phoenix Rising Press. Not only is she a publisher but an award winning author who knows the ropes. Enjoy!

Despite what you might think many authors CHOOSE independent publishing- commonly known as self-publishing, instead of going down the traditional publishing path. Reasons vary, but include the following:

1. queries and submissions take forever

2. marketing via the author is still required

3. splitting royalties gets old

4. tracking sales can become an issue

5. pressure to meet projected sales in order to keep advances is a burden

6. reserve held against royalty accounts for returns (unsold books returned to publisher) actually a reason most authors aren’t familiar

and my personal favorite

7. overall lack of control of the product – your book

I left my publisher for some of the same reasons, as did my business partner. I personally pulled three titles. But once that decision was made, time was of the essence. We decided that if we were going to do this, we were going to do it our way – the writers/author way. It was for this reason that we started our own small press. Progressive Rising Phoenix Press, LLC was founded this year, 2013. We’re not a traditional publisher – don’t even claim to be. We’re authors working together for the good of all, marketing cooperatively. We know strength in numbers is smarter than working alone, gives us industry recognition under a label. I guarantee that’s where most small authors miss the boat –truly working together to sell titles, that’s different than a plug, true cross- selling.

Cross marketing is so important to what we’re tying to build, strength in numbers. In fact, I’d go as far to say that it’s an authors responsibility. Everyone pulling his or her weight benefits all. Ten heads are better than one. Just ask our authors – we ask them. Why? Because we know their creative minds have brilliant ideas and they count. We know the industry is changing. That’s not news. It’s our job to try and keep up.

We took six months off. We didn’t do events or even promote our own work, in order to build our label. We networked to figure out what options we had and what industry requirements were needed. The issue was returnable books, mandatory for large vendors. How would Indie press deal with those? There were choices out there, but they were combined with risk.

Solution? We used certain printers who offered specific things for authors and vendors, retailers, wholesalers, depending on the fan base required. We plotted the market, overall goals, projections of potential sales. Going with a small press gives you options and strength in number. There’s far too much additional information to share within a blog, but there are some basic differences between a small press and self-publishing alone of which an author should be aware. Please feel free to contact me regarding questions. I’ll share what I know, still learning, but we’ll get there. Options – yep, you’ve got em!

Fundamentally, here are some resources to begin scoping out!

*CS = CreateSpace

*LSI= Lightning Source Ingram (Lightening Source division of Ingram)

*Returnable Status= Returned books that do not sell

*BookPartners=Printer

Here are some basic differences to understand between CreateSpace and Lightning Source:

CS – Cheaper books for author / direct sells.

CS – 100% Royalties less production, Royalties Defined as Sales Price Less Printers Share

LSI – Returnable Status option – Mandatory for brick and mortar vendors (C.S. non-returnable) R/ Yes R/N R/Destroy

LSI – Multiple Print options

CS doesn’t offer hard covers posted for distribution sale (they will produce) for an extra fee, but will not sell. Children’s books: can not put titles on spine or produce glossy pages, dust cover, saddle stitch, staple, perfect (again perfect bound important for children’s books name on spine), plastic comb. Nice choices for the author.

LSI- has every available print option you’d like- title on spine must be a certain page count, trim size etc. expensive due to inks, pricey but available quality, industry compliant.

C.S. picture books, a little cheaper per print page (good for children’s) gets pricy to SRP = suggested retail price (listed price)

LSI- Paper back (trade paper), Hard Cover- files are considered two separate files. Two fees.

LSI- will offer a Multi-Volume set of books sold under one ISBN. Ex: The Selected Works of William Shakespeare.

* Othello * Hamlet * Romeo and Juliet *King Lear * Macbeth * The Merchant of Venice (Once again…options).

By the way, BookPartners and its organizer, Tim Mallot are an excellent choice for author copies of books and books for direct purchase for special events. They are a great source for hardcover, glossy print children’s books requiring title on the spine. Their books are perfectly bound and shipped direct. We love them!

Best wishes,

Amanda M. Thrasher

http://www.progressiverisingphoenix.com or http://www.amandamthrasher.com

Wrong, wrong, just so wrong!

One of the well known montras for savvy authors in the Indie publishing world is to avoid shouting out “Buy my book! Please, buy my book!” Just ask Jonathan Gunson at Best Seller Labs. Yet, the goal of course is to sell as many books as you can. Learning the tricks of the marketing trade isn’t easy. As egotistical as many writers are, sometimes their biggest failure is in promotion. Here’s a great post on that exact subject from Martin Crosbie, a contributor to Indies Unlimited. Gone are the days when the big six publishers market you. Not to mention small Indie press.

You might sign with a publisher, have them order ten thousand copies of your book only to have those books returned to you at cost because they did not sell. Your ten thousand dollar book advance, now in arrears. It happens. Everyday. Why do you think shops like Books a Million and Half Priced Books exist? It is called returns.

One of the advantages of being Indie pub’d and print on demand, POD is that your books aren’t returned en masse. In the next week, AgeView Press will host a guest blogger, author and publisher Amanda Thrasher who is an expert in navigating the slippery slope of Indie Press. What exactly is the relationship between CreateSpace, Amazon, Lightning Source and Ingram. Who is in bed with whom? How does it all work?

There is a new game in town. Small press cooperatives. Within these cooperatives are authors just like you. Looking to get that edge. Sure, it is an ego booster to say that you have your own Indie press: i.e. you self pubbed your books and now are owner of “xyz books.” But just take a look on Goodreads and Amazon. There are over one million books Indie pressed each year. Each year! The competition is daunting.

Not everyone is going to be an EL James or Amanda Hocking. There is strength in numbers. Don’t contribute to watering down the industry with onesy and twosy “Indie” Presses that you own yourself. Shop around. Find a small press that offers you what you want. Better yet, form a cooperative with several authors yourself. But buyer beware, the latest rip off are the fees that some of these small presses charge you to participate. There have been scalpings for sure.

Do your homework. Check them out. Find out what is required on your part. Explore what bang you get for your buck. Ultimately, you will find that with faithful social media, blogging, and a small budget for advertising the sky is the limit. So tell us, what is your biggest struggle with shameless self promotion? Do you have a marketing secret? Please share it below. We won’t tell.