publishnext header image

You have a lot of choices when it comes time to publish your book. Which alternative works best for you?

  • You can attempt to find a traditional publisher and turn over all control to them.
  • You can go to Lulu.com, iUniverse.com, or CreateSpace and get it published for a few hundred dollars but end up with a less than professional book and no marketing muscle to actually promote your book. 
  • You can work with PublishNext to publish your book YOUR way and maximize the probability of its success in the marketplace.

Confused by all of the options and jargon? Let’s see if we can bring some clarity to the picture.

What are the publishing options?

Traditional Publishing

When you sign up with a traditional or royalty publisher, you assign all rights to your book over to the publisher.  The publisher then controls all aspects of when, how, and where your book is created and sold.  In exchange, you receive an advance payment of a few thousand dollars (at best) against future royalties.  Traditional publishers accept less than 2% of the manuscripts they look at and even fewer if the author has no agent or previously published books.

Self-Publishing Services

There are dozens of companies on the web offering to self-publish your book for a few hundred dollars.  These low-end packages give you a book, but nothing that you can market effectively. Poor cover design, stock interior design, and no marketing effort.  All of them offer a lot of additional services, but beware of the direct and hidden costs.  If you are self-publishing, why do they only pay you a royalty on book sales instead of letting you control the costs and receive the profits? 

PublishNext

We empower you to publish your book the way you envision it.  All of our services are provided by book professionals.  Yes, you are paying the cost of producing the book, but everything we do is clearly explained. No hidden fees.  No off-shore editorial help.  Everything is custom designed to put you in control.  You pay for our expert guidance, not for a flashy website or high corporate overhead.

What control does the author have in the editorial process?

Traditional Publishing

Since you have assigned all rights over to the publisher, they have the final say in the editing of your manuscript.  They will attempt to work with you, but it’s their money at risk.  Only high profile authors (less than 1% of the market) can retain full editorial control.  The editorial process can takes months or even years.  In the end, the publisher will make the book match their market needs or they will drop the book.

Self-Publishing Services

What editorial process?  Although most companies will offer editorial services, they are most often performed off-shore in countries where English is a second language. They use very fixed programmatic editorial systems to allow them to provide the service cheap and quick.  You are often better off using Word as your editorial assistant.

PublishNext

All of our publishing programs start out with a custom editorial evaluation performed by our professional, U.S. book editors.  This evaluation offers guidance as to what level and depth editorial work your book needs.  We can provide anything from basic copyediting to assistance in developing your plot, characters, and style.  And each step of the way, you have the final say.  You are the editor-in-chief of your book, we just provide the guidance.

What kind of cover will your book have?

Traditional Publishing

The publisher’s marketing team will decide on the style and design of your book cover. You think it should have a picture of a stream flowing through a meadow with a blue sky; they think a couple in a passionate embrace with a bright pink cover. Guess which one ends up in the bookstore?

Self-Publishing Services

Using a few standard templates, they will create a cover that is custom in that it uses your book’s title and your name. Want your photo on the back cover – that’s extra! The end result is a cover that looks amateurish. A book’s cover is the first thing a buyer sees and you only have one chance to make a great first impression.

PublishNext

First, our designers listen to your ideas, look at your illustration concepts, and review the genre and specific subject matter of your book. We then present you with several truly custom covers for your review. After this consultation, the final cover is created. Your photo, bio and/or book synopsis on the back cover are always included, at your discretion.

How much do you pay for personal copies of the book?

Traditional Publishing

The publisher will provide you with a few copies for your personal use, but you will have to pay for all additional copies. The publisher will sell them to you at the same price that major book stores pay, about 55% off list price.

Self-Publishing Services

The price you pay will vary dramatically. Some companies give only a 20% discount off the list price; others will mark up the manufacturing price by 50 to 100%. The POD price for a common paperback book is $0.90 per book plus $0.015 per page, plus a handling charge of $1.50 per order.

PublishNext

All of our publishing programs include books for your personal use. We will provide you with additional copies of the book for the actual manufacturing cost of the book, plus a 10 to 20% production handling fee and shipping (based on number of books ordered?. No one charges less!

How does the author get paid?

Traditional Publishing

Traditional publishers are also called “royalty” publishers, since they pay the author a royalty on each book sold. This royalty is usually from 7½% to 15% of the wholesale price of the book. The wholesale price of the book is between 45 and 70% of the list price, but the major booksellers always pay only 45%.

Self-Publishing Services

Even though you are self-publishing your book, most companies will still compensate you on a royalty basis. Even though you have taken all of the risk in publishing your book, they still want a substantial reward on each book sold. A few will charge on a fee basis, but look closely at these arrangements and the fee amount.

PublishNext

You are the publisher, so you get the profits. As the publisher, you pay for the editing, design, manufacturing, and distribution of the book. If you want us to help with the sales and distribution, our fee is 20% of the net proceeds. In other words, you keep the profits and only pay us a royalty if we provide service to you.

Where is the book available to be purchased?

Traditional Publishing

Although they do have more clout to get their books onto bookstore shelves, your local bookstore can only stock a small portion of the books available in the U.S. Over 100,000 new titles are published each year and over 6 million are already in print. A bookstore stocks between 20,000 and 200,000 titles.

Self-Publishing Services

Today, almost anyone can have their book listed on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Borders.com, as well as hundreds of other websites. Being available in a bookstore is no longer the primary sales opportunity.

PublishNext

We make sure that your book is available for sale on all major on-line booksellers. We ensure that the listings are accurate and detailed. You set the discount rate that is given to the booksellers. Some of our programs include additional services which optimize the promotion of your books in these stores.

How is the book printed?

Traditional Publishing

Most publishers use offset printing for first book printings. This traditional, high quality printing method is cost effective in print runs of over 1,000 copies. Since the publishers already have large warehouses, they can store the books and ship them out as they are sold. After the initial print run is exhausted, the book may be kept “in print” by using Print-On-Demand.

Self-Publishing Services

Self-publishing companies almost exclusively use Print-On-Demand (POD). This process uses high speed digital printing (think of a roll of paper running through a laser printer as hundreds of feet per minute). The quality is acceptable, unless there are photos. Paper choices are very limited. The books are printed as they are ordered so there is no inventory to manage.

PublishNext

We will help you decide the most effective method of printing your book. All of our books are set up to be printed via POD, but we can arrange for offset printing if the quality or known market require it. We will handle all of the production aspects of your project.

What marketing effort is put behind the book?

Traditional Publishing

The amount of marketing effort and money the publisher spends on your book will be in direct correlation to what they have invested in the production of the book. Did they pay you a small advance? Then their marketing effort will be small. After the initial launch of the book, it is very unlikely that any additional marketing effort will be made by them.

Self-Publishing Services

Marketing services are available at substantial additional fees. You can buy bookmarks, posters, email lists, etc. Their fees are based on you selling few books and buying lots of additional services that are of limited value in building the audience and loyal followers who are going to help sell your book for you.

PublishNext

We provide services that actually train you to market your book. You are the best sales person for your book. No one will be as passionate about it as you. We provide you with the tools and guidance to enable you to effectively use all of the latest methods, including social media, to sell more books.

What is the imprint the book?

Traditional Publishing

The imprint is the name of the publisher that is listed on the book, in Books in Print, and in all on line catalogs. Your publisher will decide under which of their many imprints your book will be published.

Self-Publishing Services

Most self-publishing companies offer you the option of using your own publishing company as the imprint, but it is an expensive and “hidden” option. But who wants their publisher to be named “Lulu’?

PublishNext

You can create your own publishing imprint or use our “Cedar Forge Press” as your publisher of record. Some authors may be given the option to publish under one of our other established imprints if the genre and content of the book is appropriate.

Can you change publishers?

Traditional Publishing

Not very easily. As long as the book is in print (and that can be almost forever with POD), they will want to retain their rights. Even if they have stopped promoting the book, they will continue to hold the rights to get every last nickel they can get out of it.

Self-Publishing Services

Technically, you are the owner of all of the rights in most cases, but if you used their imprint and ISBN it will be a problem. They may also charge you for the production files, even though you have already paid for them. Some will charge fees for termination in the first year.

PublishNext

It’s your book and the production files belong to you. You can terminate at anytime. We will help you set up your own publishing imprint if you previously used ours. After all, we want you to publish your book your way!