Making Self-Publishing Pay: Profiles of Successful Small Presses

by Suzanne P. Thomas

Many fine books exist that explain to authors how to self-publish. Make Money Self-Publishing shows them how to make money doing it. Readers are introduced to the publishing world and its jargon in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0966469127
• ISBN13: 9780966469127
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Gemstone House Publishing
• Length: 281 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Great resource for insider information!

If you're looking to build a lucrative home-based business, this book offers tons of immediately useable advice. A compilation of wisdom from 14 successful small publishers, it is chock-full of strategies about what works -- and what doesn't -- in self-publishing.

Where Major Publishers Fear to Tread

If you're an author who is tired of rejection letters, deadlines, and being at the mercy of editors who seem to fail to appreciate your creative genius, this book offers an alternative by inviting you to explore the trials and rewards of self-publishing. The first chapter of Thomas's book offers sage advice on entering self-publishing territory: "Anyone who plans to quit a job to start a publishing company should already have a completed manuscript as well as enough funds to print the book and cover living expenses for at least one year."Each subsequent chapter offers an in-depth profile of a successful self-publisher and provides informed opinions on the economics and logistics of self-publishing, as well as insight into what works and what doesn't.In a nutshell: Self-published books typically cost a lot of money to produce. Fiction usually takes longer than nonfiction to turn a profit, and producing multiple titles tends to increase the likelihood of making your self-publishing enterprise viable.When it comes to the bottom line, booksellers will want to pocket 40% of a book's retail price while wholesalers demand 50-55%, and self-publishers are not immune to the nemesis of traditional publishers - returns. Bookstores often return unsold books to the publisher for full credit, mostly in the form of scuffed or damaged books that are unfit for resale.You'll sell your books by direct mail, you say? Be prepared to launch a large campaign - response rates are generally in the 2% range. So you see, it can be a hard row to hoe, but the self-publisher testimonials in the book would seem to back up Thomas's assertion that, "although this business comes with its challenges, it can also provide an intensely satisfying way to make a living."Take, for example, self-publisher Gordon Miller (Quit Your Job Often and Get Big Raises). Although Doubleday paid six figures for his book after it did well in his hometown of Denver, Miller says he'd go it alone again: "I absolutely loved it. I would self-publish again purely for the experience."Each self-publisher's profile is unique and extensive, providing details on what led them to self-publishing (a need to organize information on a topic; discovering a market niche that hadn't been exploited; gaining complete control over the writing, publishing and promotion of one's work), how they produced their book(s), what their sales and profits have been each year, and the tactics they employed to achieve book sales.Cheri Thurston (Writing Your Life: An Easy-to-Follow Guide to Writing an Autobiography) has found shipping wholesalers only half the quantity of books they order has been an effective way of reducing returns. Rich & Sue Freeman (Take a Hike! Family Walks in the Rochester Area) capitalized on cooperative advertising and made their own display cases for bookstores to ensure their books were showcased. And Diane Pfeifer (For Popcorn Lovers Only) recommends you study the viability of self-publishing a book by as

An Inspirational look at Publishing, how refreshing!

Suzanne has penned one of the most inspirational books on publishing to hit the market. While the first chapter gives an overview of publishing 101, the rest of the book is filled with real-life stories, which reveal the secrets of how fourteen successful small publishers learned to capitalize on their manuscripts and avoid costly mistakes. "Make Money Self-Publishing" will show you how to evaluate your book ideas, learn effective marketing techniques, discover sales outlets, publicize your book online, determine your printing volume, balance your income and work load, put together press kits and find on-line book promotion lists. After studying what makes a self-publishing author successful and becoming a successful author herself, Suzanne gives us a "Top Ten Tips List" which is a enlightening! The authors who were interviewed come from a variety of backgrounds. These authors wrote their own cookbooks, mysteries, business and educational titles, travel guides and women's fiction. Most had no prior publishing experience. What they did have was a dream and the willingness to promote their books. They now have great incomes as a reward for all their work. So, if you are tired of trying to publish your manuscript the traditional way. If you are waiting for a "YES," (after sending out endless query letters and proposals) or maybe you are tired of being at the mercy of editors who don't seem to be responding to your ideas......"Say Yes to Yourself! Follow Your Dream!" With the explosion of self-publishing, everyone has the chance to follow their dream. The idea of making a living doing what you love is indescribably tempting. I know you will love this book and enjoy finding out the "Four Secrets that Sell Books." This book beautifully shows the human side of publishing. I recommend this book to every publisher and author in America. Everyone loves to find out the secret to success and I truthfully think Suzanne has discovered some of the best secrets. I love that she is willing to share them with us all. ~The Rebecca Review

I love this book!

What a valuable twist on all the self-publishing advice that's out there! I love the anecdotes about *real* self-publishers, especially the concrete information about sales volumes and income streams. Other anecdote-based books about self-publishers whose books became best-sellers are inspiring, but not too realistic for most of us. This book tells stories about publishers who are able to make a living with moderately successful books. Because Suzanne has chosen a wide variety of publishers for her anecdotes, the reader can see that there is no "one right way" to be successful in the publishing business. This book almost has a "do what you love and the money will follow flavor"--many of the publishers profiled have gone into the business, not for the profit potential, but because the business gives them the flexibility to live their chosen lifestyles.I highly recommend this well-written book to fledgling self-publishers looking for advice, inspiration, and a change of pace at the end of an exhausting day learning the dozens of new skills required in the publishing business.--Kathy Fitzgerald Sherman, author and publisher of "A Housekeeper Is Cheaper Than a Divorce: Why You CAN Afford to Hire Help and How to Get It"

They Self-Published and so can You

Whether you sell your manuscript to a publisher or publish yourself, the author must do the promotion. Writing and promoting are completely different challenges. But, one person can successfully be the author, the publisher, the publicist, the shipping person, and the bookkeeper--and end up with a profit. This book proves it. Suzanne Thomas's newest book, Make Money Self-Publishing, describes how fourteen publishers have written, published, and sold enough books to support themselves. You get the inside stories of real people in real life situations. Not only will you learn about their successes, but also about their mistakes. You will discover that you can succeed even if some of your marketing efforts don't produce the results you expected.Whether you are new to self-publishing or already have several books in print, you will find how to increase the odds that your publishing company will make money. You will gain insights into how to determine the size of your print runs, how to market your books effectively, what type of income you can expect, and how long it will take before your publishing business can support you.Perhaps you suspect that successful self-publishers are somehow different, but the publishers in this book are ordinary people. No matter whether you've written a regional or national title, fiction or nonfiction, a cookbook or a textbook, you will find someone here to be your role model. Instead of reinventing the wheel, you can learn from their experiences. Just like Olympic athletes who visualize themselves performing perfectly, and thereby improve their real-world abilities, so too can you leap ahead in your skill level as a publisher.Even if you started your publishing company last week, reading Make Money Self-Publishing can help you gain years of knowledge, while avoiding costly mistakes. Each of the profiled publishers have faced the same problems you have. Given the limitations of their available time and their budgets, they have figured out the best ways to sell their books. Some sell through traditional outlets such as bookstores while others sell their books in electronic format or through Internet bookstores. You can live through their experiences vicariously, imagining what the results would be for your book.Though the job of a self-publisher is challenging and satisfying, the day-to-day work can sometimes be discouraging. Along with the successes come setbacks. Perhaps a wholesaler returned a carton of your books. Maybe your sales numbers have started to drop. Or a public relations company hasn't produced results.At moments like these it is important to have friends who can help with advice, but they aren't always available when you need them. The publishers in this book, however, can act as handy substitutes, conveniently waiting on your bookshelf. What did Cheri Thurston do to reduce returns from wholesalers? How did the Hoffmans rejuvenate the sales of one of their cookbooks after annual sales dropped to 1,000 co