[stylist] Blind author for Robert's list

[John Lee Clark]

Lori:

Oh, NO!  Not another one down the iUniverse drain!

Maybe it's a good time to write a digression on the subject of
self-publishing.

While it's very good to seek real publishers, when you have to self-publish,
I strongly, with all of my fangs showing, advise against using any of those
companies--iUniverse, Xilibiris, lulu.com, et al.  What you should do
instead is go to a printing company and just have copies printed.  Here's
why:

The vanity publishers--iUniverse and the like--do not promote your book
beyond posting it on their site.  They may advertise to writers that they
promote it to blah blah blah, but it's all worthless.  As good as lip
service.  So on the promotional front, you'd be no better off.  You'd still
be the one who makes all the sales happen.

With that in mind, when you use a vanity publisher, you are working to give
them money.  That's exactly what you're doing.  They even make money if you
sell zero copies, thanks to their set-up fee.

Now, that set-up fee ALONE could cover a small docutech print run through a
printing business--there are many.  Two hundred fifty dollars could buy you
a print run of one hundred copies of your book, if you want to start small.

In the event you do have your family and friends and colleagues buy some
copies from the vanity publisher, you'll end up only getting a fraction of
the proceeds.  Not only are you already set back because of the set-up fee,
there's the cut the vanity publisher takes on each sale, and additional fees
that you forgot about and hidden ones you never knew about until it's too
late.  

If you are worried about the ISBN, the bar code, and posting your book on
Amazon.com, all of which the vanity publishers make a big point of saying
they will take care of, most printing businesses include these same things
in the package when you order a print run.

The most profitable type of printing is offset, but it works only if you are
sure you can sell a thousand copies.  Offset starts at one thousand dollars,
and most of it covers the typesetting.  But after the typesetting, it's only
the cost of paper and ink.  That's why there is a difference of only a few
hundred more dollars for another thousand copies--because it's just for
paper and ink and binding.  So if you have something you know will be a hot
seller--relatively speaking in the context of self-publishing--offset is the
way to go.

But if you can't afford to pony up a grand or you are not sure if you'd be
able to sell a whole lot of copies, then go for docutech.  It is a different
printing process with no huge set-up costs to begin with but is more
expensive per copy.  Depending on the length of your book, it could be
anywhere from two hundred dollars to four hundred dollars to print one
hundred copies.  That's two dollars to four dollars per copy, against what
would be just one dollar or even less per copy if you go offset, but this is
still better than your working to make the vanity publishers richer without
making any gain yourself.

If you want more detailed advice and references to both good offset and
docutech printing companies, write to me privately.  My reward for helping
you will be that you're not being ripped off by a vanity publisher.  I hate
it when a good writer becomes a sucker--and yes, based on pure business
sense, you'd be a sucker if you go to the vanity publishers.

If you happen to write me immediately upon reading this, I won't be able to
respond until Monday because we are leaving for Iowa for the weekend.  But I
will respond on Monday.

John



-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of LoriStay at aol.com
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 10:07 AM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [stylist] Blind author for Robert's list

You can add Christine Faltz Grassman, "The Sight Sickness."   She is a 
resident of Merrick, NY.   I think it's on Amazon, and published through 
iuniverse.com, if i remember correctly.
Lori
In a message dated 3/27/09 2:02:11 AM, johnlee at clarktouch.com writes:


> 
> The point of this message is that I have a need for information. This year
> at convention, I want to present a list of blind writers who have gotten
> published from last years convention in Dallas, to now.
> 
> This would be very interesting, we could learn from it. This could go up
on
> our web site. So could you all help me gather the names of the writers,
the
> title of the book, the specifics of when and where published?
> 
> 




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