Smelly old Books

Okay, I am going for it! Everything is in place to release a print on demand version of the book. After figuring out how to format an ebook, this is a cake walk. I am using CreateSpace, an Amazon company. It is free to upload the book and royalties are based on a slightly lower rate, until I sell lots and lots of copies. Of course, it is cheaper per book, to print in bulk, so if (when) that happens the royalty goes up.

One thing that has sparked my curiosity is the espresso book machine. This is a print in demand machine that a lot of smaller bookstores are using to print books onsite from a database library. This will be my next print platform, but of course I have no idea what the business model is, or how easy it is to distribute the book to these lovely unknown bookstores out there in america. And to those little bookstores I haven't met, I love you. I want to snuggle your shelves and sprawl out on your weathered wood floors.

Expect a report on the EBM project! In the meantime, I am actually really excited to get my book in print. Primarily, it will enable me to purchase wholesale copies to sell or give to reviewers during book readings. And of course, readers can buy a print edition directly from amazon! Not sure there is an extensive book tour in my future, but I am very much hoping to do as many readings as possible in 2013.

The manuscript is going through a final professional copy edit before I finish formatting it for Print on Demand. This was another 500 smackers on my credit card, but hopefully money well spent. The CreateSpace copy editing price was the most reasonable my research produced. Of course, you can put a few thousand dollars into CreateSpace if you are able to upload the manuscript yourself and need additional help with book design and promotion. I recommend crunching the screen time and figuring it out yourself. You can do it and the cost is Free dollars, a bucket of your time worth of them.

Maybe a month before the first spine is broke on a copy of The Turnpike, by yours truly. I hope it smells funky;)

The Turnpike by Thom Sibbitt: POD - Please order Direct

The Turnpike by Thom Sibbitt: POD - Please order Direct: Is this another Part-time job? It would seem so. The good news is, you are working for yourself, which is an absolute pleasure. Every time I...

POD - Please order Direct

Is this another Part-time job? It would seem so. The good news is, you are working for yourself, which is an absolute pleasure. Every time I sit down to work on this self-pubishing/promoting machine, it feels like I have just made myself a great dinner. 

By way of a little check in, the ebook is published and for sale on the major book seller sites. I have submitted the title to a few ebook contests. One of which, I will hear back from this week. Website, FB, Goodreads, bloggy-blog, CHECK! And... My sales have plummeted this month. I have sold a single copy of iTunes, which tells me I have just about spun out my local network. Now the hard work begins. 

I still am working local venues to book another reading, but I have moved on to researching my print options. I am trying to keep my overhead low and retain my autonomy. I am pricing a final copy edit, before I send it to print. So far my options are Amazon Print on Demand, through createspace and I company called BookMasters. 

BookMasters is a pay for service independent book distributor. It seems like a good company and promises to get my book on the shelves, but it costs money and their are upkeep costs. It would be great to hear from someone who has used their services and could give me some user feedback. Still chewing on that. 

Now, kudos for Amazon for making it easy. You can pay for any service you want from them. You can send them a tattered manuscript and a fist full of cash and they will edit, design you cover, and layout your manuscript for print on demand service. Or, you can do it all by yourself. I am pricing the edit, but I am considering doing all the additional work myself. There are templates and easy to follow guidelines. Frankly, Amazon has made it idiot-proof. Once your book is formatted correctly and uploaded, it is free. The cost of printing  the book is built into the price, which you are free to set. 

With a print-on-demand edition, you can send hard copies to reviews, purchase cheep promotional copies, set up local distribution and have some books on hand to sell during any book readings you can organize. So, that is the rough plan. Continue to work local, create a little buzz and hopeful keep the momentum going. 

In conclusion... this is hard work. You really have to be prepared to stay the course if you intend on being even mildly successful independently. The good news is, my book is getting great user reviews. 

They come in one at a time, each review a revelation. 

Murakimi couldn't have been more right. Keep your feet moving, no matter what. Dance dance dance.