On Our Own October 06 Newsletter

Hello!

Only a few words before jumping into the meat of this letter, or the pumpkin pulp, as the case may be...

I have made a small change to the group. Every member now has the ability to email the rest of the group. I am hoping this will facilitate conversation and encourage all of you to share experiences and questions with each other. Please note: no advertisement through email will be allowed. Feel free to post activities and introductions in the general forum, but restrict email to publishing questions and information only. Anyone abusing the email ability will have that privilege taken away as a courtesy to other members.

I wish everyone who celebrates Halloween or Samhain a wonderfully festive time!

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Publishing Company Highlight

Another change in the newsletter as it becomes tweaked to attempt to provide the most pertinent information: it will now feature one POD company and give an overall rundown of basic services and costs. There are so many out there that deciding which is best can be a real challenge. The information from each company can assist in knowing what to check with other companies.


After last month's newsletter, I received a question from a member about whether I had heard about Book Locker. I haven't, and so decided to check it out. http://www.booklocker.com

As I browsed the site, the thing that most took my attention was how the owners consider self-publishing, at least through their company, a step toward traditional publishing. It repeats in two or three places that using their services is a good way to test the waters and see if your book is saleable. For those trying to push into traditional publishing, that may be true, and it can be a successful way to attract the attention of a major publishing company, but the repeated statement raised a caution flag in my brain. What of those who intend to stay indie?

One thing I appreciate about Book Locker is their page telling authors why they might not want to publish with them. How's that for honesty? I found it confusing, though, when they said not to use them if you plan to sell to bookstores because stores won't buy books without a 50% discount. They say that kind of discount is not possible with PODs because it is a fixed cost that doesn't depend on how many copies are printed. On their price list, however, the amount of discount offered to authors who buy their own books depends on how many they order.

As an aside, if a bookstore accepts self-published books from other companies, it should also accept them from Booklocker. The issue is the self-publishing, not the discount (which isn't necessarily 50%), as the POD companies I have heard of DO offer bookstores discounts. Some even offer return policies, though most do not.

I also appreciate that, with Book Locker, if you have your own cover design, your setup fee subtracts the cost of having them design a cover. (I strongly suggest having your own cover design, as POD template covers tend to look like POD template covers.)

All of their customer service is done online by hands-on owners and all of their covers and printing services are outsourced. Unlike most PODs, they accept only 5% of submitted manuscripts because of time limits and, "because we don't want to print junk." (I'm not sure how I would take that if I was one of the authors rejected by them!)

They mention that their company name does not have to be printed anywhere on the book, in order not to label it as "self-published," which can be helpful for authors who have a company name they want to use instead of their own. On the other hand, I think authors should be cautious about trying to hide the fact that they're self-published, as it looks as though they're ashamed of it when they do. If we're going to be indie, we should be proud of being indie and stand up for that. Also, the fact that they don't accept most submissions may provide a certain air of quality for the company, but if the company name is not on the book, I'm not sure how that reputation will assist authors. Bookstores do want to know who published it, and a book that does not have any kind of company name also marks it as self-published.

Prices
Setup: $217
Ingram listing: $60 (an Ingram or Bakers & Taylor listing is necessary unless you plan to sell only on your own)
Cover art: $99 for template, $175 original design (you do own the cover rights, which is a good thing -- watch for this!)
Annual host fee: $18
Total cost: $295 no cover, or $394/$470
Consider the annual $18 fee carefully! If you remain with Book Locker for several years, it will become a much higher total fee than it appears. Most companies provide free hosting for as long as you maintain your book with them at no extra charge.

Royalties
These seem in line with every other POD company I've seen.

Ebooks
They do offer ebooks with no setup charge. However, the prices I've seen for the offered ebooks are quite high. There is no possible way I would pay $14.95 for an ebook when a printed book with the same number of pages is the same price or less. I didn't find how much the author is able to manipulate the price of the ebook.

Order Time
Because they are outsourced, customers buying directly from the store will have to wait approximately 10 days for their order.

Bookstores
Bookstores receive a 30% discount (some PODs give 40%) and are not allowed to return unsold books. This will be an issue with some stores and may make it harder for you to convince them to carry your book. Delivery takes "at least three weeks" so book signings would have to be scheduled well in advance.

Overall, this publisher would work well for anyone planning a short-term project to see how your book is received. If you will be using it to try to get the attention of a traditional publisher, this may be a viable option, as it's fairly inexpensive.

I encourage anyone with any experience with this company or any other to share it in the Market Listings forum: "Invalid Item" .

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Links


From our featured publisher, some great marketing tips:

http://marketing.booklocker.com/

There is a lot of relevant info here:

http://selfpublishing.lifetips.com/

From a new WDC member:

Self-Publishing; To Risk or Not To Risk?  (E) Self-Publishing carries risk for the author - are there real benefits in going it alone? #1168952 by Fashy Lassy

(If you decide to review this article, please identify yourself as from the group, either with a link or the image below. Public reviews with the image are always helpful. )

** November is Nanowrimo month!
http://www.nanowrimo.org
Best of luck to all who attempt the 50K!

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Wishing you all the best of luck in your publishing ventures!
Voxxylady

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