Major Christian Publishing House Announces POD (and my thoughts about that)

One of the things I like about the whole social networking phenomenon is that there are opportunities to talk to people you would never likely meet any other way. Case in point, I follow Michael Hyatt CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing on Twitter, Facebook and I also subscribe to his blog. And while you may get the impression that this sounds obsessive, don't worry, he's amazingly open to interacting with those who wish to (as long as it's done professionally I'm sure).

Today, when he announced his company is teaming up with a major fee-based/POD company to provide those services under a new imprint, I saw it quickly and was able to pop over to see what was going on.
The vast majority of the comments so far are a combination of the angels singing allelujah and "way to go". Those of you who have been following me for any length of time are probably not surprised that I immediately checked out the site to compare it against those companies that are already out there that I've researched in the past. As with most things, good and bad with this new venture.

As far as good, the premise behind starting the POD is good hearted. Hyatt admits there just aren't enough slots at traditional publishers to accomodate everyone who wants to be published and that won't change anytime soon. This is their way of trying to do something about that, to be proactive and that's definitely good. It might not be quite the right answer, but it's movement in a positive direction.

Also in the positive column, unlike most PODs, they are offering a version of full service distribution (see more about distribution in my series on it a few weeks ago) along with the typical online distribution. And that's were the not so good starts. Westbow (the new company) has some of, if not the most expensive packages in that market. Part of that is said to be because of the association with Thomas Nelson and an implied trust factor you don't have if you pick another company just from Google. I'd say that's true unless the POD experience falls apart as it has with so many other firms.

A couple other current issues are that there's no royalty info, nor book price/cost to author info in any of the packages which makes no sense to me. Be upfront, there's no reason to hide it. Don't make people jump through hoops to get such a important info.

Going back to my earlier statement, cool thing about Michael is he really likes interacting, so I made the above comments on his blog where the announcement was made-and he answered within a hour or two. He also asked a rep from Author Solutions to do the same. If you scroll through the comments to about the last third or so (as of now), you'll see the conversation. Pretty much standard stuff from the POD rep which was disappointing. He trotted out the same tired example that's been used for quite a while now as far as a success story. If I didn't respect Michael so much, I probably wouldn't pay much more attention to this, but we'll see how it goes, if they can really be different in a good way.

Check out the whole deal here Would love to know what you think, if you make a comment over there.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

The Rise of the POD People

Just in case you haven't heard yet, the number of titles produced POD (print on demand) surpassed those printed via offset (also called traditional) in 2008. That really is a pretty big deal.

To clarify a bit, we are talking about print options, not publishing options. As a refresher (or more clarification if you're new to this whole thing) you must keep in mind that print on demand is a type of printing not a type of publisher, even though the term is often applied that way.

POD is used by all kinds of publishers, from those the size of Penguin to the smallest micro-publishers. It simply means that books are printed one at a time or a handful at a time when ordered, using digital technology, like a big copier. The other method, (traditional) is offset printing which usually starts around a 1000 copies and goes up and utilizes ink and plate technology.

So what does this all mean for the average author? Here are just a few points:

1. More small and micro presses use POD technology, so that increase in titles likely came from those sources.
2. The above is good because it opens the door to more authors getting their work out there, the above is not so good because it also means more competition on the shelves whether physical or virtual.

3. In my opinion, the broad assumption that if it's POD it can't be good has never been correct or fair and if this trend continues, "the industry" has to take notice.

4. What will happen next year in publishing? Who knows, but the best way to prepare is to make sure you educate yourself so that you can choose the best path for you, whether it's POD or not.

If you'd like to find out more about the stats, you can find an article on Bookseller.com

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Should You Self-Publish? The Conversation Continues

Thanks again to those who've commented on my post from earlier this week-What is Self-Publishing?" We've got a great conversation going here.

The discussion is a perfect example of why I wrote my book Publishing Possibilities. I believe and build my business around the point that every author and every project is different. This means the way to determine the "right or best" publishing option has to be an individual decision. The only totally wrong choice is something that is a pure scam, that will do harm to someone's business etc.

For example, there are people who will insist until they are blue in the face that authors should never choose fee-based/pay to publish , yet Jaxpop is happy. Might he be happier with another option? Maybe, maybe not, but the point is right now his choice suits his purpose. I don't think anyone should tell him that's wrong.

There are others who say traditional is the only "real way" yet Michael is happy with his decision to go independent self-published. Is he any more right or wrong than Jaxpop or someone who goes traditional? Again, there is right and wrong for him, for his project. If it wouldn't work for someone else, that doesn't need to be in the equation, or if it is, it's a smaller part than his own goals, needs etc.

Now, I'm not saying don't seek the advice of people who have more experience or more knowledge than you do. That's an important part of the process if you are just learning. However, decision by consensus (again except in the area of scams, really poor businesses) is not what you should aim for. Something like 5 out of 7 people liked such and such option, so I'm going with that one, does not do justice to your unique circumstances.

Seek solid advice, and definitely put it in as one part of your decision process, but always remember there's a lot more to the equation.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

What is Self-Publishing?

This is definitely one of the most common questions I see, especially from writers who are just getting into the publishing part. Sometimes the question comes directly to me, other times I see it on a forum, or it comes up in conversation.

The thing is, a lot of people don't know this term is one of the most confusing in publishing today. There are two different definitions, there's no standard agreement on which definition to use even from expert to expert is some cases and the inexperienced author is often left bewildered. One of the reasons I wrote my book is to help clarify this term as I believe it is also the source for a lot of bad experiences and disappointment.

If you are considering this route, or maybe just investigating your options, here is a short answer to get you started:

1. The original meaning refers to an author who sets up his own publishing company in order to publish his own books. This means he sets up a legal entity and hires out, or does all of the necessary tasks himself that a traditional publisher would normally do. Sometimes this is now called "independent self-publishing" but some people also just say "self-publishing".

2. The most common meaning today refers to being published by a fee-based/POD/pay-to-publish company. Examples of this are iUniverse, Booklocker, and Outskirts Press among dozens of others. If you plug the term into a search engine, you'll likely find such services in the majority of the top answers.

Many people argue that using these companies is not "self" publishing because the author is not the publisher of record in most of these cases etc. Others say it is because the author is not waiting for the approval of someone else to be published, has more control over the product, so the term "self" is appropriate. I'm sure that debate will continue for a long time to come.

What is self-publishing? It seems like such a small question, but I hope you can see how important the answer truly is to you as an author. If you plan to "self-publish, which one of these routes are you going to follow/are you on now? Are you sure?


Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Author Success Story- From POD to Tradtional

The story of Lisa Genova's book has been floating around the web for a few days, but I hadn't seen this version of the story until now. I like it and chose to share it because it's a clear example of:

1. How fiction authors can publish outside of the traditional channels to get things moving (in fact she even used a fee-based publisher instead of going independent)

2. How to tie in a non-fiction theme in your fiction book to get recognition, publicity and support

3. How not to give up

Now, I know there will be a few who read this story who'll say, "but she's one in a million". Maybe. But does that mean what she did can't be accomplished by anyone else? That she took the only such slot that will ever be available? Or does it rule out the possibility that someone else can't follow her example adding their own spin and also be successful? I don't think so and I hope you don't either. One thing I can guarantee though, as the saying goes- You definitely won't hit the target if you never take a shot.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Is Lulu.com Right for Your Book? Update-Questions Addressed

Since my last Lulu post, I got in touch with Henry Hutton one of the founders of Lulu (though he is no longer on staff there) and he graciously took the time to answer the questions I had. Here is an update as promised.

First, I'd taken issue with the inability to contact a human and ask questions when someone doesn't have an account as they may just be in the research stage. On a related issue, I noted that there's no way to get samples of the two main paper types that are offered (Standard & Publisher Grade) to further aid in the decision process, without actually opening an account/printing something.

Basically the answer to both questions is this; Lulu's business model is not high-touch, high level customer service. That's part of the reason there's no set up fee; it's very much DIY oriented. Henry also agreed that a good analogy in comparing Lulu to some other fee-based/POD publishers is a bit like going out to eat. You can go fast food and pay a minimal amount but you also get minimal personal service. If you want more, you need to go to a different type of place and generally you'll pay more to be waited on.

With regard to the cost per book being on the high side, the most important concept is you need to know your goals and then figure out if Lulu can help you reach them. According to Henry, there are circumstances where Lulu will be a better fit than others. If retail sales (Amazon, B & N.com) is a big part of your business plan, using Lulu alone may not be the best choice. If you are going to sell back of the room or from your website (and utilize Lulu Marketplace), it may be more viable. You cannot avoid crunching the numbers if you want to make an educated decision.

As I've stated before, there's a lot more to understand about Lulu than just the fact that they have low/no set up costs. If you take your time to work through those details, either on your own or with help, I can guarantee you'll have a better experience all the way around.

If you do want help, feel free to contact me or Henry is also a publishing coach (with extra insight into Lulu). More info at his site: http://www.publishandsell.com.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

Lulu.com Is It Right for Your Book? Part 4

Today we'll pick up where we left off and talk more about Costs & Book Production.
In part 3, I touched on the fact that there is a difference in price depending on the paper you choose; I want to emphasize how important it is that you look at all aspects within your business that are affected by this number. This is a must unless you are only planning to give your books to friends and family, then these numbers are obviously not as big a deal. For the rest of you who intend to make money with your book, let's go through some concrete examples of what I'm talking about.

Start Here
Let's say you have a 200 page, paperback book which is common in both fiction and non-fiction. Choose "6x9, black & white interior and perfect bound (which means glued edges not staples). Let's also figure your cover price is an average $16.00

Crunching the Numbers
If you use the default paper choice "standard" your cost for one book is $8.50, bump it to 10 copies and you save a buck per copy. If you want to fulfill your orders yourself here's how it might look. Sell on your website or in person for $16- $7.50 (production cost) - (credit card processing fees/shipping) = around $7.00 left over.

Now let's say you are going to have Lulu fulfill orders as they come in from Amazon, B & N.com or other retailers. Same $16.00 - $8.00 (typical wholesale discount of 50%) - $5.50 (slightly lowered production cost) -$1.00 Lulu's cut = about $1.50 left over.

Options
Want to make more money? You'd have to set the retail price higher, and possibly price yourself out of the range your customer expects to pay. The other option is to choose "Publisher Grade" paper. This saves you $3.00 per book in the first calculation above. This also puts your per book price in the range of that of other print options. I'm not sure about savings in the retail example though because Lulu's current retail pricing examples only include standard paper from what I can find.

Why Is All of This Important?
Hopefully, you are now starting to see that whether to use Lulu or not is not as simple a decision as it might appear at the outset. I've touched on just a few of the aspects that can make a significant difference in many aspects of your business as an author. The key to making sure you make a solid choice is taking the time to understand how things work and then how those things apply to what you're trying to accomplish.

Still have questions? Feel free to leave a comment or contact me for one-on-one help.

Good Writing & God Bless,
Cheryl Pickett

P.S. Still working on getting in touch with someone from Lulu. If I'm successful and get some clarifications, I will certainly share them with you.

Lulu.com Is it Right for Your Book? Part 3

So far in this series we've touched on Lulu's apparent user friendliness, as well as deciphering the publishing services they offer. Today, I'm going to cover a few key points with regard to Cost & Book Production.

One of the big selling points for Lulu people often mention is that it is free/no cost to use. This is true, they do not charge a set up fee to produce your book through them. It's basically like walking into Kinkos or Office Max. They don't charge you to set up your files in their system, they just charge you to print your copies.

However, the game changes here if you cannot create and upload your own files properly. In that case, you'll need some help. Your choices are to buy a package that includes cover design for example, or hire someone to do it for you from their list of vendors or on your own. My guess is that more people than not fall into the group needing help. If that's the case, the free aspect is no longer as relevant and I'd strongly recommend you compare costs with other fee-based publishers or other print options.

The other point where cost becomes a serious consideration is cost per book. In fact, this is a BIG consideration. One of the first things you should do if you are thinking about utilizing Lulu is go to the cost calculator. Now, there are a couple more things you need to know.

First, Lulu does not offer 5.5 x 8.5 size paperback books. I don't know why as this is a very common paperback size most printers offer. If that's what you want, your options are either go up to 6x9 or don't use Lulu.

Next, there are two choices for paper-standard and publisher grade (which is apparently a relatively recent choice). If you calculate your production costs both ways, you'll see the cost varies significantly.

Unfortunately, to figure out the physical difference it will make it not as easy. If you hunt around on the web site you can find details, but things still aren't as clear as they could be. In fact, some of the papers shown to be publisher grade for one size, are standard for another. I would definitely like clarification there. Also, if you wanted a sample of a book printed on one stock or the other, I didn't see an easy way to get one. This is another concern as knowing the physical properties of your book is not something to overlook. You also cannot assume the default choice will be up to your expectations.

As I mentioned in my first post, there does not seem to be a way to contact Lulu for help if you don't have an account. However, I think I've got a work-around so I will update you if I can get some of these questions answered.

There are also a couple more points to be aware of with regard to Cost and Book Production. I'll cover those next time.

Good Writing & God Bless,

Cheryl Pickett

Lulu.com Is It Right for Your Book? Part 2

Yesterday, in Part 1, I touched on the user-friendliness of Lulu for a new customer. I noted that there is a lot of information and that can be good, especially when it comes to actually uploading files/producing your book.

However, as I delved further today, one of the things I noticed is that if you are a first time author and you haven't done much research into how publishing works, you could easily get confused or miss important details.

In my opinion, the big picture info you should have to make a good choice is not presented well. Also, unless you know what many of the industry terms mean, you might not know/be able to figure out where to look for the answers you seek. Even with the background/understanding I have of the process from writing my current book, I really had to hunt for for many of the answers I was looking for.

Which brings us to our topic for today- the publishing services Lulu offers.

Before we dive into that though, I want to make sure everyone is clear as to the three main kinds of publishing: 1. Someone else handles all the business stuff for you 2. You pay someone else to do it for you 3. You handle it all through vendor/service providers. Normally, most of the companies that offer to help you publish fit into category 1 or 2.

First key point for today-Lulu's services fall into both the 2nd and 3rd category.

The next key point you need to be aware of is that they distinguish their services within the context of distribution, even though most of the time, publishing options are not defined this way. This is definitely one area where they cause a lot of unnecessary confusion in my opinion.

To summarize their publishing options briefly:

1. Published by Lulu
This is mostly category #2 above (even though it sorta sounds like #1). You have the option to let Lulu assign an ISBN from their group of numbers which then makes them "publisher of record". They also list your book appropriately for some distribution through some online channels.

Currently, this service is free, which is one of the factors that attracts many authors to them because most of the other companies in category 2 charge for this within their packages that also include set-up, design etc.

2. Published by You
As I mentioned above, category #3 means you also become a publisher. You set up your own biz and find vendors to help you do all the tasks that need to be done to produce a book. The Published by You option helps you with some of this.

In this case, they help you get an ISBN but you own it and are listed as publisher. Beyond that, they also help you with your barcode and list you with one of the major wholesalers which allows you to have some distribution with online retailers. Note: This is for the U.S. I did not research other how it works for other countries though the info appears to be available.

As you might be starting to notice, there's a lot more to understanding Lulu than the four or five steps they show on the main page. I'm going to continue to break it down for you, but if you'd like info faster, or more personalized help, you might want to consider a one on one coaching session. You can check out my services page at www.publishinganswers.com for more details.


Good Writing & God Bless,

Cheryl Pickett

Lulu.com Is it Right for Your Book? Part 1

As I visit some of the writer forums, I frequently see comments, questions, and sometimes concerns about Lulu. com. Also, according to a recent article about the fee-based/POD publishing industry, it was noted that Lulu is one of the biggest/most popular right now.

This being the case, I thought I'd do a little analysis/pros & cons list here on the blog for those of you who might be considering it. I'll also break it down into a few parts because there's a lot of info to cover.

Note: I have not published this way myself. I am approaching this as someone who is researching whether to use it. I will utilize the info provided on the site and draw on statements and opinions of others for guidance like any prospective customer should do.

Let's start with Ease of Use
Lulu seems to have a decent reputation in this respect. On the list of "pro" is that there is a lot of information. It's pretty easy to figure out what they offer (which may spark new ideas for your project). The site also appears to provide lots of instructions for actually producing your book.

However, a couple of items I consider "cons" are that you do need to be at least a little bit "techie" to get your files set up right because it isn't just a click or two and you're done. Some people don't want to do any of that. The alternative of course, is to hire someone who is familiar with the process.

Additionally, I don't care for the fact that in order to make contact for additional help (if your question is not answered in the FAQ etc), you must set up an account. Though there is extensive info, I do have a question that I cannot find an answer for. However, I don't want an account. I want information so I can decide if I want an account or not.

Though Lulu does seem to try to be as thorough as possible, no one can possibly predict every question. I think being able to get answers you need to make the initial decision as to whether or not to go with them in the first place, should be much easier. I also realize the number of inquiries they might get could be staggering, but I still think there is a better way.

Please feel free to share your experiences on this topic so that everyone can benefit.

Until next time,

Good Writing & God Bless,

Cheryl Pickett

Price Check in the Book Aisle

One of the issues with fee-based publishing/POD companies (like Lulu or iUniverse) is often cost per copy. If you plan to sell your book, there is obviously an accepted price range for each genre. Generally hardcover will garner more than softcover/paperback, small paperback romances are sometimes expected to be even less.

This means your book must be produced at a cost that allows you, the printer and the seller to make money. For example:

Cost to print and ship a book from the printer to a retailer is $3.50. The cover price is $15.00. The retailer will want 40-50% discount to buy it so they can sell at cover price. At 50% that means $15.00-7.50 (discount) = $7.50-$3.55 (production) = $3.95 profit. If there is a publisher involved, they get most of that, the author would get around a dollar give take. If no publisher, the $3.95 goes to the author. If the author sells direct without a retailer, he would also make the other $7.50.

Of course, the lower the production cost, the better that last number turns out and there's the problem. Some of the POD/self-publishing companies have per unit costs of 5, 6,7 or 10 per book for paperback. Angela Hoy has also started receiving information that some have begun to raise prices. You can follow along here if you wish http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/005038_11192008.html

The big lesson here is that if you feel fee-based/POD is right for you, you absolutely must have a handle on what your printing costs will be. If you don't, it is almost guaranteed you will make little or nothing when you go to market and I doubt that is on your goals list.

Good Writing & God Bless,

Cheryl Pickett